Yang Yuliang resigns as Fudan University boss amid claims of graft at school
Yang Yuliang steps down as accusations of corruption and academic misconduct mount
The head of Shanghai's prestigious Fudan University has stepped down amid claims of corruption and academic misconduct at the institution.
Dr Yang Yuliang was replaced by Dr Xu Ningsheng, the president of Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, the State Council said in a statement released on Wednesday.
Communist Party sources said Yang had failed to rein in malpractices at the university. Earlier this year, a special task force from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection found management of research funds at Fudan was chaotic and construction projects on a campus were in violation of rules and prone to corruption. The watchdog has accused Fudan professors in charge of 25 scientific research projects of swindling state scientific research funds.
Yang, 62, is the first head of a major academic institution to fall in President Xi Jinping's sweeping anti-graft campaign.
His resignation also comes after a student accused a Fudan professor of stealing an idea for a hearing aid. Wang Zhengmin, a professor of otology and an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), copied Australian technology in designing an artificial cochlea in 2003, the student, Wang Yucheng, claimed. China Central Television reported the allegations in January.
The student also claimed that papers Wang submitted to the academy were problematic.