Graduating students prepare for the national college entrance examination, or gaokao, at a high school in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, June 5, 2019. [Photo/sipa]

Any students who cheat or are involved in identity theft in the upcoming national college entrance exam will be disqualified to be enrolled in universities and colleges, the Ministry of Education said on Thursday.

The ministry will work with public security and disciplinary authorities to look into any fraud in the gaokao, and hold violators and people assisting them accountable according to laws and regulations, the ministry said in a notice.

Universities should conduct identity checks on freshmen to find any students who have stolen others' identities or gained extra points in gaokao through illegal means, it said.

The ministry has called for the highest standards and strictest measures for this year's gaokao, which will be held from July 7 to 8 nationwide.

The notice came after 46 people were punished for their involvement in two impostor cases in Shandong province, the province's discipline inspection commission said on Monday.

In one case that triggered widespread criticism online, a 36-year-old woman named Chen Chunxiu, from Liaocheng, Shandong, scored 546 out of 750 in 2004's gaokao.

But her score was stolen by Chen Yanping, another Liaocheng local, who had scored 303 the same year. The impostor's father, a businessman, and uncle, a local official, had used their connections to make this happen.

The imposter's university diploma was canceled, and she was fired from her job. The results of a preliminary investigation have shown 242 cases of identity theft happened between 1999 and 2006.