5th January 2017 1:00
By Blue Tutors
The government has shut down 40 websites selling fraudulent degrees from UK Universities, as a result of an ongoing investigation by a specially commissioned agency looking into the issue. The Higher Educations Degree Datacheck (HEDD), funded by the Department of Education, found over twice that number of fake institutions willing to award prestigious degrees for a price. Some award degree certificates under the name of real UK Universities, while others offer customers distance learning degrees without valid UK certification and at times without actually offering any courses. While many customers are complicit, some of the students are also victims of the scheme, unaware that their degrees are not real and having paid substantial sums and completed coursework for distance learning courses that are not valid.
The main buyers of these fake degrees are in China, where a degree from a UK institutions carries a lot of weight in the competitive job market. Buying a degree certificate is hundreds of thousands of pounds cheaper than actually attending one of these institutions, not to mention a lot faster and easier. A degree from the University of Kent, for example, cost £500 on one of the China based websites. Degrees from the prestigious University of Manchester were even found on Ebay. Many of the examples of fake Universities use the names of real Universities with subtle spelling mistakes unlikely to be noticed by an overseas employer. One such example is Wolverhamton University (missing the p), or Stafford University, relying on confusion with the real Staffordshire University.
The problem with this trade in educational qualifications is the damage it does to the reputation and integrity of the institutions themselves; it also dilutes the value of their graduates as well as UK graduates as a whole in the international market. The affected institutions, genuine students and employers all lose out to this type of fraud. The 220 perpetrators were based both overseas and in the UK, where it is actually illegal to call yourself a University without an order from the Secretary of State, making it a criminal offense. On the other hand, using the name of a real University without their permission is a break of trademark law. As such, once HEDD has identified a fraudulent organisation, their details are passed on to Trading Standards or the police as appropriate. However, the UK based operations tend to be run by individuals and pale in comparison to overseas companies, several of which are turning over millions of pounds a year.
HEDD has asked graduates not to post photographs of themselves with their certificates at graduation, as this is thought to be aiding fraudsters in making increasingly genuine looking ones of their own.