Chinese Defense-Linked University Disciplines 20 Students for Using VPNs

A Chinese university with close ties to the country’s defense industry has reportedly disciplined 20 undergraduate and graduate students after detecting them using VPNs to access overseas websites, drawing renewed attention to Beijing’s extensive controls over internet access.

A notice dated Sept. 20 and attributed to the School of Mathematical Sciences at Harbin Engineering University said the students used their personal campus internet accounts on Sept. 18 and 19 to access overseas networks through VPNs and other “unauthorized channels.”

Their activity was recorded by the university’s cybersecurity monitoring system, according to the notice, copies of which circulated widely on Chinese social media and reported by multiple news outlets. The university said all 20 were first-time offenders and that investigators had found no evidence they disseminated “harmful information,” profited illegally, or caused other serious consequences.

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The students nevertheless received formal warnings and were cautioned that repeat violations would result in more serious disciplinary action. The notice added that students with legitimate research or academic needs should access overseas resources through approved channels, including university library databases and authorized off-campus access systems.

Concerns over academic consequences

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The case quickly attracted attention online, in part because university disciplinary records can carry consequences beyond the immediate punishment and carry repercussions for long-term employment.

Hong Kong-based outlet Sing Tao reported that some Chinese internet users expressed concern that students receiving such warnings could lose scholarships or eligibility for postgraduate recommendation programs, known as baoyan, in which high-performing students can enter graduate school without taking the national entrance examination.

Some commenters also speculated that records of VPN use could affect future applications for government jobs. “A girl was one spot short of getting a graduate-school recommendation, so she reported everyone ahead of her over this firewall-circumvention issue,” one message read. Another said: “Even if you don’t circumvent the firewall, they can still find other things to use against you…”

University has deep defense ties

Harbin Engineering University’s background has added another layer of scrutiny to the case. The institution is one of China’s so-called “Seven Sons of National Defense,” a group of universities known for extensive links to the country’s military and defense-industrial establishment.

Harbin Engineering traces its roots to the People’s Liberation Army Military Engineering Institute and remains closely associated with defense-related research and personnel training. External assessments have identified it among universities with particularly strong connections to China’s military-industrial system.

That background led some online commenters to argue that cybersecurity restrictions could be especially stringent at the university. Others questioned how students were expected to conduct serious academic research without having access to foreign websites and databases. “Do you expect researchers not to circumvent the firewall and just use Baidu?” one commenter wrote.

Another drew a darker historical parallel, “Those schools that encourage students to report and expose one another have forgotten that during the first wave of the Cultural Revolution, it was school administrators and teachers who were beaten to death or maimed.” Another wrote, “What an absurd era!” One commenter argued, “Blocking online information and preventing the free flow of information is the real crime! No matter who they are, they will ultimately stand before the judgment of history.”

Cracking down on VPNs

China operates one of the world’s most extensive systems of internet censorship, commonly known as the Great Firewall, which blocks access to platforms and websites including Google, X, YouTube, Facebook and numerous foreign news organizations. VPNs and other circumvention tools are therefore widely used by researchers, businesses and ordinary internet users seeking access to overseas services.

Authorities, however, have periodically penalized individuals for unauthorized VPN use while imposing substantially heavier penalties on people who sell or distribute circumvention tools. The Harbin Engineering case stands out because the students were apparently identified through monitoring of their own campus network accounts rather than through public online activity.