Li Zu’er, a 31-year-old mainland woman, pleaded guilty at Fanling Magistrates’ Court on 31 August 2026 to one count of obtaining services by deception. The court adjourned sentencing to 14 September 2026 for a community-service-order report, and Li was granted continued bail.
The alleged deception concerned an application to The Education University of Hong Kong’s doctoral programme. The prosecution case, reported by Star Headline, was that Li represented to university staff that former associate professor Ho Wai-yip was her academic recommender and that a recommendation letter purportedly written by him was genuine.
The university found that Ho had left the institution in July 2021 and confirmed that he had not issued the letter submitted with Li’s application, according to Ming Pao. The prosecution report said the letter was represented as having been written by Ho on 5 March 2024.
According to Ming Pao’s account of the case facts, Li submitted an online application in 2024, was admitted to the doctoral programme and began studying in September 2025. Star Headline reported the alleged offence period as running from 30 November 2024 to 16 December 2025.
Li had previously completed a master’s degree at the university in 2019 and had unsuccessfully applied for its doctoral programme each year from 2021, according to the reported case facts.
In a police interview, Li reportedly said she had met Ho while studying for her master’s degree and that he had allowed her to use a recommendation letter he wrote in 2021 when she asked him for a recommendation in 2022. She said she based the submitted letter on information from that document, signed it herself and uploaded it to the university’s online application platform.
The defence said Li had asked an intermediary to prepare the letter and had forged the signature herself while acting out of anxiety and a strong desire to continue her studies. It also said she would lose her student status and could face difficulty finding teaching work, without confirming that her enrolment had already been cancelled.
The magistrate warned that seeking a community-service-order report did not mean such an order would necessarily be imposed. Li remains on bail pending sentencing on 14 September 2026.