DURBAN - The number of bogus qualifications is on the rise in the country, with 97 national qualifications, and 95 foreign qualifications found to be fraudulent in October to November last year.
This has caused concerns in the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).
The department yesterday met Parliament’s select committee on education and recreation to make submissions on the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Bill.
The bill aims to “name and shame” those holding and using false qualifications.
The department’s director of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), Shirley Lloyd, told Parliament that it was necessary to pass the bill, because the number of fake qualifications was on the rise.
“For the period, October to November 2018, 97 national qualifications were found to be fraudulent and misrepresented, and 95 foreign qualifications were found to have been misrepresented.
“But those which have been successfully concluded as misrepresentations since 2009 to date amount to 1564 national qualifications.
“As I have said, there are plenty of others out there, and there are universities where there has been significant activity, but SAQA (SA Qualifications Authority) has not yet concluded its work so that they can be handed to the Hawks,” said Lloyd.
SAQA reports to the minister every two months on misrepresentations and fraud related to national and foreign qualifications.
Lloyd said in October and November last year, two senior certificates, an honour’s degree, five diplomas and 72 trade qualifications were misrepresented.
Regarding foreign qualifications, she said: “The biggest misrepresentation comes from India with 25; Nigeria, nine; Pakistan, 23; DRC, 15; China, one; Zimbabwe, five; Bangladesh, eight; and Cameroon, three.
“Since February 2015 to November 2018, we had a total of 2 838 fraudulent qualifications from foreign countries.
“With the new e-certificate security measures, SAQA is able to quickly identify these issues,” said Lloyd.
About 333 cases were referred to the Hawks.
According to the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Bill, qualifications presented for study, employment or appointment will be referred to SAQA for verification or evaluation.