2010

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australians holding bogus degrees have worked for Boeing Australia, and, very worrying, practice as dentists, in medicine, engineering and law.  They include people with bogus degrees from the defunct Diploma mill Saint Regis which was operated by an American fraud ring until it was closed by the US government in 2005. Federal employees in the US, including White House staff, were reported to have held bogus Saint Regis degrees in 2006.

A spokeswoman for Boeing Australia confirmed that a man the Herald identified as having a qualification from Saint Regis was a former employee. ''For privacy reasons, however, Boeing does not disclose the circumstances around which employees leave the company,'' she said. A registered dentist now working in a practice on the outskirts of Brisbane is also listed as having a health science qualification from Saint Regis. The Herald contacted the dentist, but the calls were not returned.

A spokeswoman from the Dental Board of Queensland confirmed the man was registered as a dentist with a bachelor of dental science from the University of Queensland and qualifications in oral surgery from the University of London. She said he had not registered a PhD in science from Saint Regis with the board.

Among about 50 Australians linked to Saint Regis, with qualifications including degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering, law, IT, marketing, business management and theology, is a Melbourne man who obtained a bogus chemistry degree. 

When contacted by the Herald, he said he was shocked to discover last year that Saint Regis operators had been jailed for fraud. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he said he had obtained a degree in recognition of his work experience and partial completion of a science degree.  He had paid Saint Regis $600 for a chemistry degree, four years ago.  When asked if it helped him obtain his current job, he said: ''I don't know. I obviously chose the wrong place. I thought I was getting a genuine experiential degree. I was only interested in a degree, but they said I could qualify for a masters.''

Other so-called universities that have no campuses, existing only by name in cyberspace, are continuing to offer Australians diplomas and degrees including PhDs, in recognition of no more than ''life experience''.  The Camden University website says the university ''does not boast of a campus'' and is structured ''along modern lines''.  ''Camden is for the working men and women who for various reasons have missed out in the rat race for college or tertiary education,'' it says.  When the Herald spoke to the operator of the US-based online Camden University, a man who identified himself as Dr Al Harris, from Camden University in Delaware, offered a masters or PhD degree in English literature for $US2000 ($2250) in recognition of the completion of an arts degree.

Dr George Brown, academic director of the Think: Education Group, who helped draft a UNESCO statement discouraging university degree mills, said the Saint Regis qualifications had appeared credible.  ''It is a global problem. But there has been no consolidated central approach to this problem of degree mills,'' he said.  ''It is a matter of recruiters and employers being vigilant. My research found worldwide, close to 30 per cent of senior executives have presented qualifications they didn't hold.''

Brown knew of an Australian being sued by an employer in Japan for holding a bogus Canterbury University degree. The Australian claimed to have been duped.  Mary Hicks, director of employment education and training for the Australian Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber had received reports of employees presenting bogus university qualifications and fabricated work histories, a practice which had been made easier by the internet.

 

Our CEO Eyal Ben Cohen recently wrote an article on Pre-employment screening.  Of all the pre-employment screening categories, previous employment poses the biggest problem for employers. This is because employment checks need to cover length of service, job title, company details, salary, and reasons for leaving.

Pre-employment screening: 1. 'Stretched' employment dates often hide unemployment

Candidates who seriously mislead prospective employers might, for example, seek to reduce or remove altogether long periods of unemployment or imprisonment by 'stretching' dates of employment on their CV, sometimes by years. As well as raising issues regarding what were they really doing during the period in question, this also casts doubt on the candidate's honesty and integrity.

Other applicants will claim to be working for companies that no longer exist, and will offer a reference from an employer that pre-dates the closed of that business. I have also come across others who create web sites for phoney companies, and who will wait at the end of the line for a verification call.

Pre-employment screening: 2. Reasons for leaving may hide the truth

Another area employers increasingly need to scrutinize is reasons for leaving, mainly because of a rise in redundancy levels. No one is proud of being made redundant, let alone being dismissed, and this is why so many applicants will try to hide the real reasons they left their previous employer. It's one thing not to state on a CV reasons for leaving a post, but quite another to lie about this when asked. Even dismissal in itself is not always necessarily detrimental to a candidate's chances, but when one lies about it, it certainly raises questions about their character.

And when it comes to stating current income, employees are increasingly taking advantage of the fact employers now provide less and less information on standard references. In fact, most will supply only dates of employment and job title. Therefore, employees allow themselves to inflate their salaries, thinking they will be able to get away with such lies.

Pre-employment screening: 3. Job titles can be a tricky area

As for job titles, candidates play faster and looser with these than any other aspect of a CV, But employers need also be aware that this is also a complicated area from a human resources perspective, and one where genuine mistakes are often made. Because of this, HR data systems may occasionally contain incorrect job titles, and such errors can only be discovered with a cross-check.

Plus, remember that in times of recession and unemployment job candidates face greater temptation to bend the truth to create more impressive CVs, and employee screening will safeguard employers against hiring a person who is not what they seem.

 

China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Centre (CDGDC) today announced the signing of an exclusive contract with Verifile Limited, Europe 's leading pre-employment screening company to provide a more streamlined system to verify Chinese academic and vocational qualifications.  Up to now employers and educational institutions have struggled with validating qualifications gained in China.

Around 80,000 Chinese students study in the UK annually, and nearly 100 Chinese educated doctors are practicing in the UK. As the Chinese economy cools more highly qualified Chinese nationals are likely to seek work or further study here.  The difficulties of verifying qualifications issued from a country with a different
educational system and written characters, or sinographs, has been compounded by the rapid expansion in the Chinese higher education system - 5 times more students graduated in 2006 than in 1999 4 . This has increased difficulties in distinguishing between genuine qualifications issued from officially recognised Chinese educational institutions from those issued by a  "Diploma mill" - companies, often based online, which sell bogus qualifications without study.

The exclusive contract with CDGDC will see Verifile as their sole partner in the UK for pre-employment  screening. From today organisations that employ individuals with qualifications gained in China and educational institutions with prospective students with qualifications gained in China can visit one central online portal to verify any degree or transcript from a Chinese institution, including high schools, universities and vocational
programmes. A formal verification report would be issued within 20 working days and would cover any recognised institution in China, making the process more efficient for businesses and educational institutions within the UK, and for individuals with Chinese qualifications.

Qualifications covered by this new service from Verifile and CDGDC include:

•  Higher Education
• Vocational Education
• High School Education

Director of Verification Department at CDGDC Li Ping comments, "Through the partnership between CDGDC and Verifile we hope to streamline the movement of people between our two countries." Our CEO Eyal Ben Cohen stated "We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with the CDGDC. Our proven robust internet based verification system coupled with our knowledge of Chinese authorisation and legal compliance procedures will ensure employers, universities and government organisations in the UK and Europe have an easy and accessible way to verify Chinese qualifications".  UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the China Britain Business Council (CBBC) provided important assistance in facilitating negotiations with CDGDC in China. Martin Keepfer, Senior International Trade Adviser with UKTI states "Verifile is a client going
from strength to strength with its international growth plans. We at UKTI have been proud to assist, not only here in the UK 'on the ground ' but also, working with our partner CBBC and our network of Embassies and Consulates globally, to develop exciting new business opportunities and 'open doors ' to new international markets."
Each verification report for a Chinese qualification will cost ?45 and will take up to 20 working days. The service is available to both organisations and individuals.  Organisations can apply to verify a Chinese qualification on behalf of their applicants.  Individuals with a Chinese qualification can also apply to have their qualification verified or can nominate an agent to do this on their behalf."