To fill the gap between demand and constant increasing supply, many players in the higher education sector live by the saying that ‘fake it if you cannot make it’. South of Punjab has been hit by fake education. In Alipur, a branch of a known college chain claimed to be affiliated with GC University, Faisalabad. Many students paid fees to get registered, however, the university website doesn’t recognize it as an affiliated college. The robbed students moved administration and made complaints. But the institutions are supported by the feudal lords in the area.

The elementary and secondary education department has terminated the services of 104 teachers and other employees in the merged tribal districts for securing jobs on fake degrees or absenting themselves from duty for a long time during the last two decades. The department of education will examine the academic degrees and certificates of all employees in tribal districts.

16 pilots and 65 crew members of the national airline have been suspended by the Pakistan authorities for possessing fake degrees. On 29 December, a chairman of the Senate Committee, strongly opposed the pilots and cabin crew’s dismissal and suggested that the salaries of the culprits be reduced instead of firing them. The issue of who is responsible has become politicized. It seems that many pilots and cabin crews with fake academic degrees obtained their degrees through political connections. The fake degrees issue has been in the limelight in the country since 2010, as many parliamentarians faked their academic qualifications to be eligible to contest elections when a new rule made it compulsory for candidates to possess a bachelor degree.

Ghost teachers and ghost schools are a burden on the education system in rural areas of Balochistan and the government needs to take concrete steps to repair the damage that is caused to its children and their future. Most public schools lack basic facilities like boundary walls, chairs, toilets, clean drinking water, electricity, and even teachers, not to mention the absence of study material like course-books and other infrastructural needs. Authorities continue to pay teachers despite their wilful absence and a great number of them are hired based on political affiliation rather than their qualification and educational achievements.

A diary seized from a Karimnagar lecturer, a co-accused in the case, revealed that the certificate racket is much murkier than the police initially thought. CCS additional DCP told TOI, “We have questioned the main accused, 41, from June 7 to 11. We analyzed the diary which revealed that the lecturer, in connivance with the staff of several universities in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Guntur, obtained fake certificates for the accused. At least 4,500 certificates from 60 universities across the country were obtained and sold. He had written the rates of each university certificate in the diary.

The acting Rector COMSATS Institute of Technology (CIIT) has been allegedly found involved in a plagiarized research work in which he was a co-author and published the paper in a national research journal in 2007. 65% text of the said research paper has been found similar with a number of other papers after its verification in the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) plagiarism detecting software ‘Turnitin’. As per HEC policy no research publication for PhD work should have above 19% similar index in overall, and 4% from a single source, an official said.

Thousands of UK nationals have bought fake degrees from a multi-million pound "diploma mill" in Pakistan, a BBC Radio 4's File on Four programme investigation has found. Buyers include NHS consultants, nurses and a large defence contractor. One British buyer spent almost £500,000 on bogus documents. The Department for Education said it was taking "decisive action to crack down on degree fraud" that "cheats genuine learners

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) will meet next week to decide the fate of its second most important officer whose research paper was found to be 88 percent plagiarized. The Chairman had set up a committee to probe the allegations of plagiarism against the commission’s Executive Director (ED). Sources said after the issue came to the light through a news story published in this paper, the committee formed by the HEC Chairman held a meeting this week to review the Executive Director’s research paper which was found plagiarized.