The University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) is warning students and employers about the prevalence of bogus tertiary qualifications on offer, some of which are being sold for between US$3,000 and US$5,000 each.

According to executive director of the UCJ Dr Ethley London, at least one Jamaican has been caught up in this web of deception, returning from abroad armed with a fake doctoral degree.

“It’s a real scam going on out there and Jamaican students are getting caught,” Dr London disclosed on Wednesday.

“We have had one Jamaican returning (from overseas) with one of these. He came to us for equivalence. It was a PhD,” Dr London told a Lions Club of Kingston meeting.

She explained that a prospective employer had asked the UCJ to check on the authenticity of the qualifications of the individual in question. It was during this process that it was discovered that not only was his PhD bogus, but also his master’s and bachelor’s degrees.

Dr London said degree mills were again on the rise in the United States and Europe after a decline in the 1980s because of a crackdown by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US, which resulted in a number of indictments. She said the rise in phony colleges had been facilitated by the availability of inexpensive laser printers, toll free numbers, the Internet and other modern technology.

“From information we have, you can buy a PhD for anywhere between US$3,000 and US$5,000,” Dr London said.

Current information on the size of the diploma mills industry could not be ascertained by the Observer yesterday.

However, a 2003 report in the American newspaper USA Today said that there were more than 400 diploma mills, 300 counterfeit diploma websites, and that the business had doubled in five years to more than US$500 million.

On Wednesday, Dr London urged interested persons to check with the UCJ to verify the integrity of institutions or their qualifications.

Her appeal was endorsed yesterday by Grace Gordon, senior accreditation officer at the UCJ.

“People can always find out from us if an institution is approved or being processed for approval,” Gordon told the Observer, adding that a listing of all registered tertiary institutions in Jamaica is posted on the UCJ website.

The UCJ, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is the national quality assurance body for tertiary education.

Dr London said that among the UCJ’s main functions are the registration of institutions offering tertiary education to ensure standards are met, the accreditation of programmes developed by these institutions, and the establishment of equivalence of local and foreign qualifications.

She noted that tertiary education is the fastest-growing sector of the education system in Jamaica, with well over 50,000 students registered. To date, the council has registered 43 public and private institutions that have met the criteria of educational quality. It also monitors 130 programmes it has accredited in 31 institutions, including 18 offered by nine overseas institutions.

To increase awareness about fraudulent qualifications, the UCJ will be hosting a workshop on credential fraud next month.