“We originally gave up the opportunity to enroll in a domestic university to allow our child to pursue further studies in a higher institution, enrolling them in a one-year preparatory course at the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Now, there is no school for them to attend.” Recently, Ms. Jiang from Jiangsu province reported to The Paper’s public mutual aid platform “Service Pai” (https://tousu.thepaper.cn) that in 2023, she enrolled her child, who had just taken the art exam, in the Italy-oriented preparatory course training program launched by the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. During enrollment, the teacher promised 20 guaranteed admission slots to the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts. However, after a year, none of the 23 students in the class were admitted.
The enrollment teacher claimed to be a “teacher from the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts” and stated that there were 20 guaranteed admission slots among the 50 students recruited.
In response, the relevant person in charge of Shanghai Tiaya Culture Communication Co., Ltd., which was involved, told The Paper that the statement guaranteeing admission for all 23 students to the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts was the personal opinion of individual enrollment teachers and was unrelated to the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the company. “We had a maximum of 20 guaranteed admission slots and a minimum of zero.”
The aforementioned person in charge also stated that the main reason why the students were not admitted was that their grades did not meet the admission threshold. “The company has found public schools in Italy for the students to attend. They can continue their studies and participate in the entrance exam of the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts again after a year.”
23 Students Completed a One-Year Preparatory Course but Have No School to Attend
Ms. Jiang introduced that in June 2023, while browsing the “Art Rise” website, she saw an “Enrollment Brochure for the 2023 Official Preparatory Course Targeted Training Program of the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts by the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts” published by the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Clicking on it immediately redirected her to the official website of the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Another enrollment teacher also claimed that the chance of being admitted to the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts was 95%.
“At that time, my child was a 2023 art exam candidate and had already been admitted to a domestic university. However, considering that both the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts and the Central Academy of Fine Arts are top art institutions, we wanted to learn more about this program.” Ms. Jiang said that through the contact information on the enrollment announcement, she found a Mr. Hu, who was an enrollment teacher. He introduced that the class for this program had a maximum capacity of 50 students and there were 20 guaranteed admission slots to the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts. “He said that even if they couldn’t guarantee admission, the pass rate for the final exam of the preparatory course was 95%, and students could still be formally admitted.”
According to the chat records provided by Ms. Jiang, another teacher named Mr. Jia, who also claimed to be an enrollment teacher from the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in the aforementioned “Enrollment Brochure”, told parents: “Among our 50 students, there are 20 guaranteed admission slots to the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts. For the remaining 30 students, there are two entrance exam opportunities with a 95% admission rate.”
After receiving the promise of a “guaranteed admission” slot, Ms. Jiang let her child give up the already admitted domestic university and instead participated in the entrance written test and interview for the program, and successfully received the admission notice.
In September 2023, Ms. Jiang’s child entered the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts as a preparatory student. “The tuition fee was 168,000 yuan, plus 15,000 yuan for accommodation, visa, exam fees, etc., so the total cost was around 200,000 yuan.”
After more than a year of studying, the school did not conduct any internal tests for Ms. Jiang’s child. Instead, they conducted a final exam directly on September 20, 2024. What surprised the parents was that “none of the students in this year’s class passed the final exam.” Ms. Jiang said that on September 23, the school organized the students to go to Italy to participate in the entrance exam of the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts. The results and admission list announced on October 7 showed that none of the 23 students in this year’s class were admitted.
“We parents quickly contacted Mr. Hu, the enrollment teacher, but his phone was unreachable, and he didn’t respond to any of our messages. Later, we contacted the dean of the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the school said that Mr. Hu had been fired. What should we do with the children?” Ms. Jiang said.
On October 12, Ms. Jiang and the parents met with the dean of the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. “The school only allowed a lawyer or a parent representative to have a face-to-face talk. The parent representative said later that the school’s attitude was very indifferent. The dean rejected all of the parents’ demands to enroll the children in the Central Academy of Fine Arts or the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts as promised during enrollment.”
Afterwards, the parents learned that the “2023 Italy Florence Academy of Fine Arts Targeted Training Program of the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts” was actually operated by a Shanghai education and training company, Shanghai Tiaya Culture Communication Co., Ltd. “That Mr. Hu, who was responsible for enrollment, always claimed to be a ‘teacher from the Central Academy of Fine Arts’, but he was actually an employee of their company.”
Ms. Jiang said that the parents subsequently contacted the company. “The person in charge of the company said that the 20 guaranteed admission slots were for the whole world. But during enrollment, the enrollment teacher told us that these 20 slots were for this class. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have enrolled. Now the children have studied for a whole year, but they are facing the dilemma of having no school to attend.”
The “Enrollment Brochure” recruited students in the name of the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, but it was actually operated by Shanghai Tiaya Culture Communication Co., Ltd.
The company responsible for the program claimed that the guaranteed admission was the personal opinion of the enrollment teacher.
The Paper’s reporter noted that on June 16, 2023, the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts published the “Enrollment Brochure for the 2023 Official Preparatory Course Targeted Training Program of the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts by the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts” (hereinafter referred to as the “Enrollment Brochure”) on its official WeChat public account.
The “Enrollment Brochure” stated that on April 10, 2023, the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts signed a memorandum of cooperation for a jointly organized targeted official preparatory course. The program was jointly established by both institutions to help Chinese students quickly adapt to the Italian education system, meet the admission standards of the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts, and have their grades and admission evaluations directly completed by the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts. It could also provide priority or exemption from admission tests for outstanding students.
The program was divided into two learning stages: from September 2023 to May 2024, students would study at the International College of the Central Academy of Fine Arts; from June to October 2024, they would study at the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts in Italy. It promised: “During the study in Italy, the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts will conduct irregular grade evaluations for the students in this course program. Outstanding students can be exempted from admission tests, with a maximum of 20 such slots.”
Ms. Jiang said that in reality, the children only arrived in Florence on July 10 and participated in the final exam in September. “Many children only arrived in August, which was right during the Italian holiday, so they didn’t even take language courses before directly participating in the exam.”
The Paper’s reporter noted that the “Enrollment Brochure” stated that it would help students meet the admission standards of the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts and indicated the “guaranteed admission selection stage,” “professional admission test selection,” and “enrollment (Florence National Academy of Fine Arts) registration stage” in the timeline. It did not mention what would happen if students failed the exam and could not be admitted.
Regarding the aforementioned situation, on October 21, The Paper’s reporter contacted Shanghai Tiaya Culture Communication Co., Ltd. Mr. Liu, the relevant person in charge of the company, said that the aforementioned program was indeed operated by the company, but the actual situation was not as the parents described.
“During enrollment, we did not promise that all 23 students would be admitted to the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts. We had a maximum of 20 guaranteed admission