New | Doubts raised over the rapid academic rise of the 'Mayor of Tea'
A state media report has questioned how the former deputy governor of Yunnan province, at the centre of a corruption investigation, was swiftly made a professor with only limited qualifications
Doubts have been cast over the rapid academic rise of a former top government official from Yunnan who is under investigation for corruption, according to a mainland media report.
Questions have been raised over how Shen Peiping, the province’s former deputy governor, was able to secure a doctorate from a university in Beijing without first apparently getting a master’s degree, the People’s Daily said.
He was then made a professor at the college within five months, breaching regulations on the years of experience needed before taking up a senior academic role, the report said.
Shen was removed from his post in Yunnan this week after the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog said they were investigating his affairs.
He received a doctorate in physical geography from Beijing Normal University in July 2007, the newspaper said. He was appointed an adjunct professor at the college in December the same year.
Shen had originally graduated from the Chinese department at Baoshan College in Yunnan in 1981.
Staff at the university’s office of academic affairs said they had never seen Shen, although it was normal not to come into contact with experts hired by the college, the People’s Daily reported.