Interesting story in Saudi Gazette on follow-up of a US investigation and prosecution into an American diploma mill that gave fraudulent degrees and diplomas to more than 9,000 people, including some 69 Saudis. The story is sourced to an article appearing in ‘a Washington paper’—likely this piece from The Examiner—though as it’s an Associated Press story, it got nation-wide distribution.
What’s interesting is that the Saudis’ names popped up as the result of concern about terrorism. Having advanced degrees makes it easier to obtain certain kinds of US visas, so it’s a legitimate concern that terrorists could make use of the fraudulent documents to enter the US.
Fake degrees represents a different kind of problem for the Saudis, though. Many jobs are filled on the basis of academic achievement, so fraudulent documentation could easily put unqualified people into positions where their lack of knowledge could create havoc. The article focuses on teachers, but I suspect the average Saudi would not be pleased to learn that his doctor had a fake degree.
This does bring up a question about ‘over-credentialing’ jobs, of course. Requiring documents of educational achievement beyond what the job actually requires is its own problem. The US government is not immune to this. I found it ironic that for most of the staff jobs in my office in Riyadh, I could not qualify for them as I lacked the academic degrees that were being demanded. I’m clearly not the only one to notice this as the criminal investigation identified several US federal employees who had obtained fake degrees from this diploma mill.
Ministry to probe 69 fake degrees
Riyadh – Following accusations in the US of 69 Saudis holding fake degrees from American Universities the Ministry of Higher Education confirmed that it will probe the allegations, Al-Watan reported.
A newspaper in Washington published the list of 180 people who purchased fake high school and college degrees. Sixty-eight from the UAE were also identified as well as others from around the Gulf.
The fraud came to light following the indictment and conviction of eight people involved in running the scam after being apprehended by the US Attorney’s Office in “Operation Gold Seal.” The ringleader of the scam, a 58-year-old high school dropout, has been jailed for three years, the Washington newspaper reported.
Muhammed Al-Awahli, undersecretary at the Ministry of Higher Education for Educational Affairs said the ministry will examine the credibility of the list of suspected fake degree holders especially for those teaching at Saudi universities.
He said some of the people listed may not be working in higher education but any who are found with fake degrees will be dealt with through the proper channels.
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August:20:2008 - 11:22
Interesting. I was involved in the hiring of over 1,000 federal employees and we were required to verify all educational claims.
The schools had to be accredited through the normal track, and through ABET as well. An official copy, unopened, of the transcripts was required.
If the school’s name was not well known we’d have to follow up, make sure they were accredited normally and with ABET. If there were questions we’d call the school itself and enquire.
In the case of applicants with foreign education, we had to submit them to a small list of companies who would then investigate the school and send up a report telling us whether the school in question was at least equal in academics to American schools.
This was very important as we hired a lot of scientists and engineers from outside the USA.
I wonder if the US federal employees got the degrees AFTER they were hired? It would be amazing if they got the jobs using the fake degrees. Things have really tightened up since 9/11 and I would be surprised of hearing that happen.
August:20:2008 - 11:22
I need to state that the applicants were required to submit their qualifications through a accreditation service (list supplied by us) for foreign schools and supply us the report, not the other way around as I initially indicated.
August:20:2008 - 11:22
I suspect that in the case of the US federal employees, some of these were post-employment degrees. Promotions can be influenced by, if not entirely dependent upon, holding advanced degrees. The level of checking that goes on within individual HR offices varies widely.
This is not to say, though, that some job applicants haven’t managed to game the system with fake degrees. No one wants to spend an inordinate amount of time in selecting someone for a clerical position, for instance. But some people in those positions are ambitious: they will try to get into more substantive jobs as quickly as they can. What was overlooked as unimportant in certain contexts can become much more important when the context changes.
This, in fact, is what I suspect most of the federal employee problems represent.
August:20:2008 - 11:22
The “newspaper in Washington” that published the list was the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_breakingnews_pf.asp?ID=15898
Here is the list of purchasers: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/data/diploma-mill/
The company that sold the fake degrees was based in Spokane.
August:20:2008 - 11:22
Thanks for clearing that up.
My apologizes for being a bit too DC-centric. There is, of course, the State of Washington. (My youngest brother, in fact, happens to live there!)
August:20:2008 - 11:22
No worries, John. I live in DC (well, NoVa) as well.
August:20:2008 - 11:22
And the list has nearly 10,000 people, not 180. (There are three links to separate data extrapolations, but the total list is huge.)
August:20:2008 - 11:22
chucho: Thanks for pointing that out.