Crackdown on degree mills

JEDDAH: The number of degree mills that mint fake degrees is on the decline in the Kingdom even though not totally stamped out, an official said recently. “The Ministry of Higher Education has stepped up its efforts to track down all the offices that sell bogus university degrees. It is collaborating with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Control and Investigations Bureau,” Undersecretary for Academic Affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education Muhammad Al-Auhali said, adding that the Ministry of Higher Education did not have the required executive authority to punish the culprits on its own. He said 112 offices selling bogus degrees were closed down over the past four years. Most of the bogus degree holders never submitted their illegally acquired certificates from foreign universities to the ministry’s accreditation committee, which scrutinizes degrees from abroad and determines their equivalent degrees in the Kingdom. “If anyone ever submits a dubious degree to the ministry, that person will be handed to investigators for appropriate legal action against him irrespective of the fact the source of the issue of that degree is internal or external,” he said, adding that the university mentioned in the questionable certificate will also be notified. It is not only to get a high job that false degrees are procured, he said. Some people use a postgraduate or doctoral degree to promote their esteem in social circles and some company executives to beef up their CVs. “However, the ministry does not approve any such unethical practice whether it is for academic or nonacademic purposes,” he said. He warned that there are officials to monitor those who obtain jobs using fake degrees or use it for other purposes. He said such cases are handed over to authorities such as the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Culture and Information for the initiation of penal measures. The Internet has made it easier than ever to obtain a bogus certificate. The degree mills either sell counterfeit degrees or arrange them in an illegal manner. “Whatever the method, the aim of these unscrupulous people is to either swindle the students or extort money,” he warned. He said some of the fake degrees come in the form of online degrees of distance education programs of foreign universities. Some universities abroad are real but their programs are scam. They award degrees without any course of study or examination. Most degree mills operating in foreign countries have websites and use names similar to those of real colleges or universities to swindle unsuspecting students. Even in developed countries like the United States, degree and diploma mills are highly sophisticated and hard for authorities to shut down. A CNN reported recently quoted an expert as saying at least 100,000 fake degrees are sold in the US each year. Arabnews