Wuhan University photo: VCG

Recently, the dispute between two students from Wuhan University, surnamed Xiao and Yang, has drawn wide public attention. Wuhan University established an expert review panel to conduct a comprehensive, fact-based investigation into the disciplinary action against Xiao and the academic issues related to Yang's master thesis in accordance with laws and regulations, according to a statement released by the university on Saturday.

According to the statement, the university has decided to revoke Xiao's demerit sanction. Regarding controversy over Yang's thesis, the school panel found no evidence of plagiarism, intentional fabrication, data manipulation, or fabrication of conclusions,but identified over 100 instances of noncompliance or irregularities. The university decided to uphold the award of Yang's master degree.

The university formed an expert panel with three external experts, two internal experts, and an external expert as the lead to review Xiao's case. The panel used methods such as document review, interviews, and on-site verification. In total, it examined 91 sets of materials, including hard copies, electronic files, audio, video and images; interviewed 21 individuals including the parties involved and their representatives; and conducted on-site checks to verify key evidence, said the statement.

On September 17, 2025, the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court upheld a first-instance ruling in Yang's civil lawsuit against Xiao over alleged sexual harassment (on July 25, the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone People's Court dismissed all of Yang's claims). Respecting the court's judgment and considering the panel's findings, the university decided to revoke Xiao's demerit sanction.

Regarding Yang's master thesis, which is titled "An Economic Analysis of the Impact of Fertility Behavior on Domestic Violence in China and India," the statement said the university submitted the thesis to the relevant agency for an academic-misconduct check in April 2024.

The check found an overall text similarity rate of 1.9 percent, which meets the college's requirement that the overall and each-section similarity be below 10 percent and that the literature-review (or theoretical-review) section similarity be below 30 percent. In April, the thesis was also sent to three external experts for a double-blind review (the identities of the author, advisor and reviewers were concealed, ensuring mutual anonymity); all three experts approved the thesis for defense. 

In May, the five-member thesis defense committee voted to recommend that Yang be awarded the master's degree; the School of Economics and Management's degree-evaluation subcommittee voted to approve the degree. In June, the university's degree-evaluation committee reviewed and voted to confer the master's degree.

After the controversy arose, the university organized an expert re-examination of Yang's master's thesis in August 2025, which was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, 17 internal peer experts were divided into five groups to verify, item by item, the online allegations and to comprehensively re-read and review the thesis. In the second phase, building on the first-stage work, a five-member expert panel (three external experts and two internal experts, led by an external expert) was formed. Using archival reviews, thesis reading, data comparison and replication testing, the panel conducted a focused review of the thesis topic, procedures, research methods and conclusions, and writing standards, as well as the degree-conferral process.

The panel concluded that the thesis topic has some originality, the chosen econometric methods are generally appropriate, and the baseline regression results are broadly consistent with the model assumptions. The more than 190,000 original data records used in the thesis can be verified by comparison. Although the reproduced results for a few charts differ from the originals, these differences do not affect the thesis's main conclusions. 

The panel also found no evidence of plagiarism, intentional fabrication, data manipulation, or fabrication of conclusions. At the same time, panel experts identified over 100 instances of noncompliance or irregularities in the thesis, mainly involving nonstandard wording, improper citation, formatting errors, inaccurate translation and imprecise analyses.

In August 2025, the Wuhan University convened a meeting of its degree evaluation committee. After reviewing the case and conducting a thorough investigation, and in accordance with the applicable regulations on degree conferral at the time, the university decided to uphold the award of the master's degree for Yang, the statement said.

Independent double-blind reviewers of Yang's thesis pointed out that the work had significant issues with writing standards and recommended revisions. It said that the defense committee also suggested changes, but Yang only addressed some of them. 

"The thesis advisor did not provide thorough supervision, and the School of Economics and Management's degree evaluation subcommittee failed to conduct a rigorous review, leading to a formally submitted master's thesis that contained numerous irregularities," the statement noted.

In terms of accountability, the university's Party committee, guided by internal disciplinary regulations and relevant codes of conduct, determined that deficiencies in student dispute handling, insufficient guidance in daily student education and lax student management had led to negative consequences. 

As a result, the former head of the Student Affairs Department, surnamed Li, received a Party warning, as did Liu, the deputy Party secretary responsible for undergraduate management at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, and Xie, the former deputy Party secretary overseeing graduate management at the School of Economics and Management. The Student Affairs Department and the School of Foreign Languages and Literature's party committee were instructed to submit written reports and implement corrective measures.

Yang's thesis advisor, Guo, was summoned for a formal discussion and barred from recruiting graduate students for two years for failing to fulfill primary responsibilities in student supervision. Liu, the vice dean responsible for graduate education at the School of Economics and Management, also received a formal admonition for lapses in administrative oversight, per the statement.

The school's degree evaluation subcommittee was required to submit a written self-examination and carry out corrective actions for not ensuring thesis quality. Finally, both the Graduate School and the School of Economics and Management's Party committee were instructed to review their responsibilities in graduate education and take practical steps to rectify the shortcomings, the statement said.

Regarding online rumors that "Yang's master thesis was selected as distinction," Wuhan University said that after verification, it did not select distinctive master theses in 2024.

Regarding online rumors that "Wuhan University has agreed to Yang to modify her master thesis," the university said that after verification, the university required Yang to provide the original data and code of the thesis in order to conduct a thesis review, but this did not involve thesis modification. Regarding online rumors that Xiao "encountered cyber violence which caused his studies to be interrupted," the university said that after verification, Xiao participated in educational and teaching activities normally, and his studies were not interrupted. 

Online rumors also ran wild, such as that "a Wuhan University alumnus initiated a joint letter demanding the revocation of disciplinary action and accountability for academic fraud," "Yang's uncle is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at Wuhan University," "the interview examiner surnamed Guo was a student of Yang's father," and "Yang and Deng co-authored the thesis." After verification with the relevant parties, Wuhan University said that all the above rumors are false. After consulting with relevant local authorities, the online rumor that the cyber violence Xiao experienced resulted in the death of Xiao's grandfather and that his maternal grandfather became a vegetable are false.

Wuhan University said it will deeply reflect, learn lessons, draw inferences and make serious rectifications. It will effectively strengthen student education and guidance, consolidate the responsibilities of tutors, improve the academic governance system, cultivate a rigorous and pragmatic academic style, and comprehensively improve the quality of talent training and education management. It also thanked all sectors of society for their concern, supervision and criticism of the university. 

Global Times