PETALING JAYA: Background checks on potential new hires have revealed that in 2019 alone, 5% to 7% of jobseekers used fake degrees, and 10% to 15% had qualifications from unaccredited tertiary institutions.
Akhbar & Associates, a Malaysian corporate fraud investigation service, told theSun the statistics are the latest it has, as none was collected during the Covid-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022.
Its managing director Datuk Seri Akhbar Satar said the legitimacy of degrees and credentials among employees and students is a serious issue in Malaysia.
“The human resource department of hiring companies should always verify the background details of potential employees. However, such verification is not carried out at many companies.
“This is mainly because the human resource staff just want to save time in the hiring process. But the danger of doing this is ending up with incompetent candidates.
“Ultimately, such slack employment practices will not serve the employer’s interest as the staff concerned may not be competent to handle the job for which he is hired.”
The issue of false degrees and credentials returned to public notice after Muhammad Azhar Ali, 23, a former Perdana Fellowship Programme participant, was found to be using fake credentials on Sept 12. He had even managed to fool the government’s chief security office to secure a place in its premier youth fellowship programme.
He was selected as one of the 56 Perdana Fellows for 2023 after claiming to be a Universiti Malaya graduate majoring in electronics and communications engineering.
But he has since been booted out of the programme after other participants and alumni pointed out that there was no such course at the institution.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin told theSun that although there were reports of fake degrees being used, it has never been a serious issue in the Malaysian higher education sector.
“We have not received any official complaint involving our 20 public universities. As for private educational institutions, only one complaint has been received by the ministry thus far.”
Mohamed Khaled said among important initiatives taken by the ministry were providing a dedicated verification channel under the Malaysian Qualifications Agency, via which the public can inquire about and verify the accreditations of programmes offered by Malaysian universities.
“In addition, the public can also lodge a complaint using the Public Complaint Management System,” he said.
Meanwhile, National Association of Private Educational Institutions (Napei) secretary-general Dr Teh Choon Jin concurred that possessing and using fake degrees is a serious issue in the country.
Teh said fake degrees from Malaysian universities are sold by unscrupulous parties.
“This creates issues for legitimate universities, which can have their reputations dented by degrees being sold through websites, social media and degree mills.
“We believe many of these fake degree websites are operating within and outside Malaysia. But despite this, we do not know which organisations are selling fake degrees and credentials to students.”
Teh said fake degree and credential providers could be stationed abroad to hide their modus operandi, just like other scammers.
During the Higher Education Ministry (Mohe) Visioning Workshop held on Sept 14, Teh said Napei had proposed that Mohe verify qualifications obtained in Malaysia through blockchain technology.
“The use of blockchain technology to issue and verify qualifications should be made part of the national agenda under the Higher Education Digitalisation Action Plan 2023-2030 to weed out fake degrees. This will be in line with Malaysia’s digital initiatives.”
Malaysian Employers Federation president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said fake degrees are an ongoing issue among job applicants and employers may have unknowingly hired those with fake degrees.
He said employers and other stakeholders affected by academic dishonesty are concerned because those with questionable credentials can turn out to be incompetent in carrying out their duties.
Syed Hussain said potential employees who resort to using fake degrees are desperate to show they are better qualified than other applicants.
“The availability of fake degrees has encouraged some job applicants to turn to them for a leg-up over other applicants, apart from making their resumes more impressive.”
