Hangzhou Normal University in Zhejiang province issued an apology Saturday after confirming that a list of recipients for a charitable project was fabricated by staff using common names found online. 

The scandal erupted after internet users noticed the university's publicized list of student beneficiaries for a public welfare program appeared to be copied directly from dozens of names available via the Baidu search engine. The incident has prompted public scrutiny over the allocation of charity funds.

In an official statement, the university acknowledged that the misconduct was a result of negligence and promised a serious handling of the matter in accordance with internal rules and discipline.

The project, with a total budget of 450,000 yuan ($63,646), running from June 2022 to June 2023, aimed to help left-behind children from two primary schools in the mountain in Chun'an county.

It included purchasing library bookshelves, developing teaching materials, providing learning supplies and books, and conducting online and in-person teaching sessions for the students.

According to the university, the project involved seven online teaching sessions, but staff members failed to maintain proper records of actual student attendance during these sessions. When the project was due for an acceptance check, employees engaged in fraudulent practices to meet the required beneficiary numbers, using generic online names to create the falsified public notices that triggered the outcry.

The university said that no direct cash was distributed to students, and the budget was spent entirely on material aid and operational costs.

It pledged to punish the individuals responsible, initiate a comprehensive review of all similar programs, and implement stricter oversight to prevent future occurrences.