Australia wary of bogus Indian degrees

Sydney, Mar 15: With an exponential increase in Indian students choosing to study in Australia, the usage of fake South Asian degrees is also reported to be on the rise, according to an Australian education consultant.

Mr George Brown, has an Australian higher education consultant, urged the educational institutions here to be more vigilant against such bogus degrees being used by the students from the second largest education market -- India.

The education consultant's warning against the fake Indian degrees forms the crux of his paper -- Degrees of Doubt: Legitimate, Real and Fake Qualifications in a Global Market. The paper has appeared in the latest Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management.

''What I'm saying is that the risk is high for qualification fraud,'' The Australian newspaper quoted Mr Brown as saying.

The University of Adelaide scholar has also tried to establish a link between general corruption and qualification fraud.

China, the other top education market also worries the education vigilance bodies here. The two most populous countries in the world also top the dubious corruption perceptions index published by Transparency International.

Suggesting ''serious levels of corruption'', the anti-corruption organisation has awarded India and China less than five out of a clean score of 10.

The fact that some Indian universities are planning to insert microchips in degree documents to discourage those indulging in corruption has also attracted the attention of the education consultant.

According to Mr Brown, Australian universities had also taken some radical steps to prevent their qualifications being faked by unscrupulous elements.

Vietnam chapter of Royal Melbourne Institute of Training (RMIT) is among the first institutions in the world to use polymer bank technology to print certificates.

The Australian education professional has also stressed on the need of allowing third parties to check the authenticity of dodgy looking qualifications.

South Africa is reportedly the world leader in online systems that allowed such checks to be made by the third parties.

Australia also has one such online organisation called QualSearch.com.au but it is not available to non-member individuals or organisations.

UNI