Whistleblower Reveals Fake Degree Epidemic in the Middle East, India and Dubai

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by MasterChief, Jan 6, 2022.

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  1. MasterChief

    MasterChief Member

    Unbelievable. I am now questioning the value of these accredited degrees from the middle east.
    Worth a watch.

     
  2. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    I saw this video a few years ago. I think things like this are why some evaluators only equate degrees from certain countries as Associate degrees, if anything. It's gotta suck for people who have legit degrees by doing legit coursework.
     
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  3. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    Quite sad!

    I earned my MBA from Assam Don Bosco University (India). I completed this program with my lowest GPA (3.08) to date.

    Thankfully, ECE evaluated it as a master's degree from an RA in the U.S.
     
  4. MasterChief

    MasterChief Member

    I was surprised to learn how deep the scandal goes! Authenticating unearned degrees is big business and it's not going away. Where's the outrage from legitimate degree holders? What a disaster.
     
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  5. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    I'm not super surprised. I'm pretty sure that similar things go on in the US, too. It just takes slightly different forms, like paying people to write your essays and to take your exams for you.
     
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  6. Futuredegree

    Futuredegree Well-Known Member

    Lucky this is going on in foreign countries mainly. In the United States, I feel it is much harder to get authentication on an overseas degree. It does not stop a lot of people from just going on eBay or the internet and buying a fake degree and applying for a job. It is sad people resort to this route when there are so many cheap options and fast ways to get a degree such as online courses, CLEP exams, ace, and FEMA credits. With a little money and work, one can easily get an associate's or bachelor's. City jobs typically require just a general bachelor's for most administrative jobs. Some schools even offer free degrees, I know on this forum I have seen free associates and I know the university of the people has free degrees. People are just trying to one-up the system for their own greed.
     
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  7. This isn't new. Applies to marriage licenses too.
     
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  8. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I can't find the source now but just a couple years ago someone came out and admitted they did all the work for a prominent person's university degree. They were paid to write the essays and in exchange got their own tuition covered.

    And then there's this:

    22bc2b18-012f-467d-85e0-520f6d330193.jpg

    The draft of an essay that allegedly got an A-. These were effectively on-paper-only classes that allowed football stars to avoid going to class, like in that episode of King of the Hill. It's part of a wider Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina_academic-athletic_scandal
     
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  9. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    That hurts to read. Is that the entire essay? Yikes!
     
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  10. MasterChief

    MasterChief Member

    I used to enjoy college football and this just makes me tune out.
     
  11. Vonnegut

    Vonnegut Well-Known Member

    Some of the cheat detection software being marketed to education is now trying to run analysis on an individuals writing across multiple courses and semesters. It’s really picked up since there was a study in the Chronicle of Higher Ed on some of the cheating outfits that did full course loads, everything from weekly discussion boards, quizzes, essays, and even group projects. Was remarkable at how successful ‘the majority’ were in the study. It’s also pushed the RAs to tighten online student authentication requirements.
     
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  12. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    This is what happens when schools pay a football (or other sport) coach FIFTY TIMES what a professor makes! It's ridiculous and forms its own self-fulfilling prophecy. Not that way in other countries. There's nowhere NEAR that "sport" - induced monetary excess in colleges or universities any other country that I can think of.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2022
  13. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    It's a shame, because I don't think the current restrictions cut down on cheating by that much, but they can make it a PITA for legit students to study and get the credit that they earned. It's the academic equivalent of nasty DRM.
     
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  14. MasterChief

    MasterChief Member

    I can attest to Turitin as some of my writing is flagged! My professors at VUL provide a "human" factor when reading the context of my papers. I don't think the cat & mouse game of writing original work, cheating, and plagiarism will end anytime soon. PITA indeed!
     
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  15. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Eastern's MS in Data Science program is actually implementing some stepped up plagiarism detection because people were copying and pasting their written assignments, using code right from Github (without identifying it was not their own) and similar things like that. At EU, the first instance of plagiarism results in a 0 in the course, you need to repeat. The second involves dismissal from the program.
     
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  16. Johann766

    Johann766 Active Member

    I watched the video with the Tattoo guy and as far as I Understand his employer arranged degrees from non-accredited diploma mills and added some kind of legalisation with some state official's signature.
    It's still a degree from a mill I don't see how the signature could change any of that, a legalisation is meaningless so I don't understand how this company seems to have found lots of custumers.
    I don't even understand what was illegal since a legalisation only confirms that one document says the same thing as another document. Nothing to do with the value of a degree.
    But maybe I got it all wrong.
     
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  17. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Right, like the "includes apostille!" bit that only fools the unwary.
     
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  18. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Most of the fake-degree market in the Middle East comes from TCurve in Pakistan (formerly known as Axact - we have threads on both). This co. - or collection of companies, is said to be raking in $2 million a month. The Pakistan authorities do nothing. I suspect palms may be greased - it's happened before. Besides hundreds of "schools," they've created a couple of hundred bogus accreditors, yada yada.

    And yes - about apostilles. I suspect someday soon, Blockchain may become the new apostille. Bona fide Universities are starting to protect their diplomas from forgery with Blockchain - sometimes Bitcoin's, sometimes Ethereum or others. How long before University of Spoofles and Goofles gloms onto a blockchain for "prestige."

    I can see it now "The ultimate protection. Employers will know it is real." Yes it is - a "real" dud. All Blockchain attests to is that, like apostilles, the underlying coin, document or whatever is not a forgery - that the document (in this case) came from Spoofles and Goofles, as it purports.

    Neither Apostille nor Blockchain is any kind of statement on quality, value or fitness for any purpose. But - apostille or Blockchain - it sure looks good. And it came from where it says it did.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2022
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  19. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    That's an interesting prediction! I think you're right; now that you suggest it I wouldn't be surprised to see that at all.
     
  20. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    I don't feel like watching it again right now, but wasn't it posing as a legit testing center and the students were getting recorded in university databases as having passed the exams and getting real degrees? In some countries, attending class isn't necessary. Only taking the often brutal end of year exams is.

    Italy used to have a similar degree system to this. In theory, you could self-study all year, then rock up to pay the fees and take the exams. Also, you still had to write a thesis before getting your degree. In practice, I understand that few self-studiers actually passed. Since the exams were only offered 1-2 times per year, you couldn't accelerate your degree and the low pass rate meant that most students opted to attend lectures anyway. At least, for the difficult subjects.
     

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