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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.

Public registers of individuals claiming false qualifications, as well as institutions offering these, should be established, the SA Qualifications Authority. The draft national policy, which is now available for public comment for the next 30 days, outlines the creation of these registers defining what is meant by misrepresented qualifications, outlining the process for how they will be dealt with, and detailing the various roles and responsibilities expected. Ultimately, only those found legally culpable of qualification fraud would be included on registers.

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education has condemned academics, staff and students operating in a syndicate in order to do student placements and applauded investigations that are being instituted. A call has been made that policies that have been announced by government and authorised by Parliament must be implemented. Universities will be requested to inform Parliament what steps are being taken to close any loopholes that might be used to undermine legislation and policies.

Government’s plan to draft in a policy to target qualification fraud is expected to reap positive results for South Africa, including ensuring that South African tertiary institutions are not robbed of the reverence many of them have earned for decades. One of the main benefits would be that CV verification will become standardised, ensuring accuracy and no room for deviation, in both the public and private sectors.

The Deputy President says a proposal to deal with the problem of fake qualifications is being prepared and will soon be presented to Cabinet for approval. He said the Minister of Higher Education and Training has already requested that the South African Qualifications Authority establish a national register to list names of individuals who have misrepresented their qualifications or who have invalid qualifications.

The SA Qualifications Authority (SAQA) is introducing new regulations on the evaluation of qualifications obtained from foreign institutions to curb the scourge of fake degrees. SAQA has also introduced new security features on its certificate of evaluation which compared the foreign qualification with those offered in South Africa.