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Fascinated by easy money, the members of the family who have ruled over Syria since 1970 also love collecting university qualifications obtained through dishonest and violent means. The various degrees held by the members of the family, including in medicine, law, engineering and pharmaceuticals, were not won thanks to their hard work, but rather thanks to money and the abuse of power.

Damascus University recently issued its first digitally enhanced diplomas, part of an initiative to combat the use of forged diplomas by students wanting to claim they graduated from the country’s oldest institution of higher education. Reports have surfaced of diploma-forging rackets in Turkey and in Persian Gulf countries, as Syrian refugees who have fled their country’s brutal war seek to boost their qualifications in order to gain access to educational or work opportunities, either in the region or beyond.

For thousands of young Syrians it has become impossible to pursue university studies in a country threatened by civil war. In order to begin a new life abroad, students buy therefore fake diplomas. A business that is increasing in the neighboring Turkey.