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In 2018 the Higher Education, Science and Innovation Department had successfully prosecuted 40 fake institutes. However, by the end of 2021, the number of institutions offering fake bachelor’s and doctoral degrees has increased. During an awareness campaign on bogus colleges, officials will address the dissemination of information related to these higher education organisations.

Four Eastern Cape Department of Education officials and a businessman are facing charges of corruption, fraud, theft, and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act for R59 million meant for schoolbooks. Under the pretence that schools were adequately resourced with textbooks, they decided without permission from the National Treasury to shift and use 80% of the budget for the procurement of supplementary resource material, mainly IT equipment and photocopiers.

You can now go to jail for faking a degree on your CV According to South Africa's (SA) National Qualifications Framework Act, falsely or fraudulently claiming a higher education qualification is a criminal offence subject to a prison sentence or a fine. Bragging that you have a doctorate or other degree on LinkedIn or Twitter bio, can be enough to get you into serious trouble. Under the new Law, operators of bogus institutions will also face jail for up to five years if claiming to be registered as education institutions in SA or abroad.

Universities and business schools are grappling with the ethics curricula they teach to professionals and future professionals. This follows damning revelations of state capture involving accountants, auditors and consultants at major international companies. The dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand, said every crisis offers an opportunity. “There is a lot of debate within the senior executive team… we are working with two [international] economists, to develop context in the economics curriculum, it brings to the fore issues of power… so students think about economic systems with a historical perspective”.