In recent days, universities across mainland China have successively welcomed a new semester, with corruption issues at universities also attracting public attention. This year has seen several university leaders fall from grace, including one who turned himself in after being retired for four years.
According to the Jiangsu Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision on February 16th, Xie Jianming, the former deputy secretary of the Party Committee and vice president of Nanjing University of the Arts, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is currently under investigation.
Public records show that Xie Jianming was born in March 1965. He has worked in the field of education for many years, serving as the vice president of Nanjing University of the Arts in 2013, and as the deputy secretary of the Party Committee and vice president in 2018 before being removed from his position as the vice president in 2023.
Just the day before Xie Jianming was officially investigated, the Hunan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision reported that Liao Xiaoping, the former deputy secretary of the Party Committee and president of Central South University of Forestry and Technology, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is currently under investigation.
According to his public resume, Liao Xiaoping was born in October 1962. He has been working in universities for a long time, having served as the director of the Party Committee Propaganda Department at Changsha University of Science and Technology, and as a member of the Party Committee and vice president at Hunan College of Economics and Management Cadres. Liao Xiaoping became the deputy secretary of the Party Committee and president of Central South University of Forestry and Technology in March 2016, stepping down in November 2022 after over six years in the position.
It is worth noting that before Liao Xiaoping, on July 15, 2016, Zhou Xianyan, the deputy secretary of the Party Committee and president of Central South University of Forestry and Technology, was investigated. In 2018, he was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison for bribery.
During his tenure as president, Zhou Xianyan used his position to assist others in project contracting and payment of project funds, directly or through others, illegally accepting a total of 21.389 million yuan, of which 7 million yuan was unsuccessful.
Before his arrest, Zhou Xianyan denied the allegations, calling media reports “false accusations”. Additionally, he and his former wife, Huang Jianxin, “divorced but still lived together,” jointly accepting bribes, with Huang Jianxin also sentenced to seven years for bribery.
This case reflects the severity of corruption among university leaders abusing their authority.
The official website of Central South University of Forestry and Technology states that the university is a key university in the construction of “domestic first-class universities” in Hunan Province.
Other university leaders investigated this year include Wang Haolin, former president of Inner Mongolia Sports Vocational College, and Zheng Xianming, former secretary of the Party Committee of Xinyang College in Henan Province. Zheng Xianming voluntarily turned himself in for investigation on February 10th, having retired in 2021.
Zheng Xianming worked in Xinyang City for a long time, holding positions such as the Party Committee Secretary and Director of the City’s Development and Reform Commission, a member of the Party Committee and Secretary-General of the City Government, and the Party Committee Secretary of the City Government Office.
Currently, detailed information on Zheng Xianming’s specific violations of discipline and law has not been publicly disclosed.
In recent years, cases of corruption in universities have been continuously exposed, yet there are still individuals who “carry on the mantle of corruption”.
The communique of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, released on January 8, 2025, stated that it is necessary to rigorously investigate cases of corruption intertwined with political and economic issues, emphasizing the comprehensive rectification of systems in various fields such as finance, state-owned enterprises, energy, fire control, tobacco, medicine, universities, sports, development zones, engineering construction, and bidding.