The importance of screening employees for bogus degrees

People who have been to university know how tough it is to get a degree and the amount of work that is required. Employers expect that anyone claiming to have a degree has gone through this demanding process and that their degree is recognised in the country in which it was awarded. Regardless of whether or not having a degree is essential for the job itself, it is an issue of honesty, integrity and trust. If someone has knowingly set out to deceive in this way, they may not stop there and the potential risk to the unsuspecting employer is huge.

Often it is the case that, when conducting a background check, high importance is given to protecting against applicants who present fake certificates from genuine universities. Checking if a certificate has been faked is fairly simple and is done by contacting the institution that has supposedly issued it. Unfortunately, this approach does not help when trying to spot and protect against bogus “life experience” degrees sold by degree mills.

Degree mills are mainly online entities that purport to be genuine universities, offering qualifications based on little or no work, but simply on the candidate’s life experience. Their lack of recognised accreditation or legal authorisation to grant degrees means there is no guarantee of quality. Those who rely on these “degrees”, such as prospective employers and the public at large, are therefore put at risk. Two recent cases uncovered by Verifile, highlight the need for thorough screening for degree mills as part of good practice CV checking.

Case study 1

The corporate and investment banking arm of a French banking institution, one of the world’s ten largest banks, received an application for the position of Head of Foreign Exchange Operations. This sensitive position entails the management of the middle office functions at this financial services firm in relation to their foreign exchange product line, ensuring all controls and procedures are in place for the teams and liaising with front and back office.

The application was from a candidate who at first claimed to have a BA in Computer Science from New Rochelle University in New York. This might have been the reputable and legitimate College of New Rochelle, but the candidate called into the Verifile office to change his story – it was not New Rochelle University but in fact Rochelle University that he now claimed to have a degree from. Running Rochelle University through Accredibase, the global database of unrecognised education providers developed by Verifile, revealed that it had been blacklisted by three US states: Oregon, Maine and Texas.

Rochelle University is not accredited by an agency recognised by either the United States Department of Education or the Council of Higher Education Accreditation. Verifile’s researchers were unable to find any information regarding the location of Rochelle University, apart from the US telephone number provided by the candidate. A reputable university doesn’t hide its location.

Information from Oregon’s Office of Degree Authorization suggested a link between Rochelle University and the widely written about—and still active—diploma mill, Rochville University. Accredibase researchers decided to test this. They called up Rochville University and asked for the phone number for degree verifications. Lo and behold, it was the same number that the candidate had provided for Rochelle University.

Wanting to get as full a picture of the situation as possible, Verifile also asked the candidate to provide a copy of their degree certificate. Not surprisingly, the documents provided by the candidate showed that he did, after all, purchase his degree from the notorious Rochville University…

The discovery of a bogus degree on this candidate’s CV was cause for concern for the bank. Trust, integrity and honesty are all vital characteristics of the Head of Foreign Exchange Operations role. Once it was apparent the candidate had claimed on his CV to have a bogus degree, the bank questioned whether or not the candidate had the character required for the role.

Case study 2

Unfortunately, Rochville University is just one “university” offering bogus degrees. The candidate in another case claimed to have a BSc in Computer Science from University of Northwest. The candidate claimed he studied for his “degree” through a local agent in the UK, Stratford College London.

Verifile’s researchers ran both University of Northwest and Stratford College London through Accredibase and alarm bells started ringing when a match was returned. University of Northwest published a New York address on the transcript provided by this candidate. The “university” is not, and has never been, accredited by a US recognised accrediting agency.

University of Northwest is also not listed as a recognised New York University or College by New York State Education Department (NYSED). According to NYSED’s website, to establish a college or university in New York State and to confer degrees, an entity must be authorised by the Board of Regents or its charter. In addition, use of the terms “college” and “university” is generally restricted to institutions chartered by the Regents or the State Legislature.

What’s more, University of Northwest has also been blacklisted in four US States: Texas, Oregon, Michigan and Maine. According to Oregon’s Office of Degree Authorization, University of Northwest has been actively selling invalid degrees in Afghanistan.

Neither the University of Northwest nor Stratford College London is a UK-recognised institution with the legal power to award their own UK-recognised degrees. Stratford College London was, however, licensed under Tier 4 by the UK Border Agency to sponsor overseas students.

When Verifile’s researcher contacted Stratford College London, they were able verify that the University of Northwest degree was attained through their college. They also stated, however, that they no longer offer University of Northwest courses.

University of Northwest also claims to be accredited by several agencies that have been blacklisted as unrecognised in the United States. Degree mills will often use—or even invent their own—bogus accrediting agencies, known as accreditation mills, in an attempt to make their qualifications look genuine. Accreditation mills tend to choose names similar to those of recognised accrediting agencies and will even falsely add well respected universities to the list of institutions they “accredit”.

This particular candidate had also lied about his A Level grades on his CV, which made Verifile’s report regarding his bogus education even harder to ignore.

It is hard to believe that these candidates were not aware of what they were doing when they purchased their “degrees”.

Wider implications

In addition to the problems inherent in hiring dishonest individuals, employers should also consider the consequences of failing an audit by a regulator, and the bad publicity involved if these cases become public.

The court case involving BSkyB and EDS is a good example. The Times reported that Joe Galloway, a senior EDS manager and key witness in the case, lied in court about the origins of his claimed MBA degree. He was exposed when BSkyB’s barrister purchased the same degree on the internet from Concordia College and University for his dog, Lulu. As a result, the judge ruled that EDS should pay over £700 million to BSkyB.

The BBC and The Guardianreported the case of Mr Morrison, who posed as a forensic scientist on a salary of at least £250,000 and acted as an expert witness in UK courts for 27 years. All three of Mr Morrison’s “degrees” —a BSc in Forensic Science, a Master’s in Forensic Investigation and a Doctorate in Criminology—were from the fictitious Rochville University according to the BBC. As a result, the police had to reassess approximately 700 cases involving Mr Morrison, searching for miscarriages of justice.

The examples discussed here highlight the importance of understanding how education systems around the world work when conducting a thorough CV verification. Your employee screening process should be able to check the status of the universities your candidates claim to have attended and confirm if they are genuine or fake, and whether that candidate should be taken seriously, or shown the door.