Dear Universities: This is Ruining Your Reputation!

by Imane Mourassilo | Oct 14, 2022 | All Articles, Blockchain, Documents, Education, Trending

Since I can’t write an email to every university in the world, I thought writing an article would be the second-best option to reach as many of them as possible.

Most universities spend excessive money and effort to build and maintain a good reputation, from hiring the best lecturers and investing in research initiatives to marketing and PR campaigns.

Yet they somehow overlook the severe damage that fake certificates are causing them behind the scenes.

Jump to specific parts:

Understanding the Two methods of Degree Fraud

So How does this affect Universities?

How can Universities fight Fake certificates?

Understanding the Two methods of Degree Fraud:

Faking certificates has become a global phenomenon worth billions of dollars. It has grown to a level where it is becoming ungovernable, especially with the available sophisticated technology.

When it comes to Degree fraud, it generally occurs in one of two ways:

#1) Buying a fake certificate of a real university, which often looks identical to the original one. Fraudsters with high-quality equipment can even include the elaborate seals and holograms found on authentic documents.

#2) Buying certificates from fake diploma mills; these companies claim to be higher education institutions but provide illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee.

This type is much trickier as they try to maintain a front of academic teaching, although, in reality, they do none of that.

According to Rafael Melinon, The Deputy Director General of Verifdiploma,

“In 50% of the certificate fraud cases, the candidates had never set foot in the school, or university mentioned, and 50% had completed the training but had not graduated”.

So How does this affect Universities?

The biggest concern with the issuance of fake degrees is that it jeopardizes the quality of education and induces real risks for the universities involved.

This malpractice leads to loss of reputation, opportunities and sometimes even loss of life if the holder of the fake certificates takes a position that might threaten people’s lives.

A good example is the Vijaya Kumar case. A fake doctor tricked a whole city with his forged medical degree that he claimed to have gotten from Kazan State Medical University in Russia.

This case has caused terrible press for the Russian university and the hospital where he was employed.

Employability of the University graduates:

With employability being at the forefront of most universities, Fake certification can affect that badly and ruin some students’ chances of getting their dream jobs.

The university’s credibility is clearly in jeopardy when fake degrees are awarded. Several HR professionals shared that usually, If a company hires a university graduate who performs poorly at work, they rarely engage with other candidates from the same university.

Another consequence is that fraudulent credentials have increased the inclination for universities to hire their graduates only, as it is much easier to verify their credentials and training.

Transferring Universities and Further studies

Certification fraud can induce additional issues and tension with other academic institutions, which results in them rejecting postgraduates that want to transfer or do further studies.

When a university admits a Postgraduate with a fake transcript and realizes their inadequate performance, future candidates from that university are disadvantaged by association.

This also imperils the credibility of utilizing previous academic data and statistics for shortlisting candidates and predicting success based on these records.

Summary:

Fake degrees pose a severe problem for universities and employers; it sabotages their credibility and reputation and hinders sincere candidates from pursuing higher education or seeking employment.

So How can Universities fight Fake certificates?

Certificate fraud is possible because most credentials, whether paper or digital-based records, are not secure and difficult to verify, making it challenging for both universities and authorities to stop such exploitation.

Fortunately, Universities can stop this by implementing an effective certificate management and verification system; DocuTag is one of the solutions available; it’s an all-in-one certification management solution that simplifies the entire process of certificate issuance and verification.

It is also crucial to conduct competency-based interviews, check references, and Build collaborative relationships with other institutions and businesses, making screening profiles more accessible.

About DocuTag

DocuTag allows universities to digitize their certification process and secure their certificates’ authenticity.

Docutag uses the latest technologies, such as blockchain, to give each of your certificates a unique QR code that can’t get copied and that anyone can scan to verify the authenticity of the certificates in seconds.

DocuTag enables the universities to: