A woman from Guanxian county, Shandong province, who managed to get into a university 16 years ago by stealing the identity of another person from a village in the same county was suspended from her job on Thursday, the county's WeChat account said on Thursday.

An investigative team consisting of officials from the county's commission for discipline inspection and supervision, public security and education is looking into the circumstances surrounding the identity theft.

The imposter, surnamed Chen, had been working at a community office.

No more information was available, as the case is under investigation. The county said it will deal with the event seriously and publish results of its investigation to the public in a timely manner, the notice said.

The woman who was replaced discovered the identity theft when she was filling in forms to apply for an adult education school on the website of the China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center, 16 years after she failed the university entrance examination.

She found that a person using her name had been admitted to a university 16 years ago and had already graduated. Personal information matched, but not the photo.