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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.

110 offices selling forged degrees from non-Saudi universities have been identified by the Ministry of Higher Education. Prices for a fake bachelor’s or master’s degree can cost anywhere from SR3,000 to SR30,000 while a bogus doctorate can cost up to SR90,000 from an institution in the west. The degrees supplied by these diploma mills are issued by institutions that offer courses without approved standards or are simply issued by the transfer of money into an overseas account. Measures have been taken to detect such agencies.

There have been several institutions located in the UK illegally operating under the title ‘university’. The ‘free universities’ like the Ragged University and Free University Brighton (FUB) offer courses generally sustained through free labor, which means they are unlikely to prove enduring. According to the Minister of immigration, the government had “struck off nearly 900 bogus colleges” which operate as portals for illegal immigrants. A Norwich couple was found guilty of fraudulently running the British Nutrition Council and the International Distance College, which defrauded around 900 individuals.

Higher Education Degree Datacheck (Hedd), which monitors fake degrees, has recorded 243 fake institutions. Manchester Open University advertised degrees for fees up to £35,000 on its website and claimed to have a campus on Oxford Road, with 2,000 students from 90 different countries studying degrees in history, English and medicine. Officials were unable to find a trace of the institution. The Oxbridge University of Kilmurry, providing master's degrees, doctorates and professional qualifications on its website is registered in the Gambia.

Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission this month issued a public notice listing 153 illegal universities and degree-awarding institutions. A large number of illegal universities mentioned in the HEC notice do not exist, some are run from apartments and commercial buildings and issue degrees not recognised by higher education authorities of the federal or provincial governments. Academics say, however, the rising trend of fake universities cannot be discouraged without punitive action against the management of the bogus institutions.

New higher education legislation being put before Parliament could put students and the reputations of UK universities at risk, even encouraging “scam” universities, independent experts have warned. An extensive report released by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) suggests nearly three quarters of new higher education providers opening in the next two years will remain unregulated after the Government’s controversial new Higher Education and Research Bill comes into effect.

The higher education and research minister has warned new students to make sure they enrol in higher education institutions that are authorised and accredited by the state. During the past few years many new private institutions had opened as the numbers of young people qualified to enter higher education increased but places in public universities remained low. She stressed that “the ministry refuses to ratify or recognise the diplomas of institutions without authorisation.”

More than 30 fake universities have been shut down by the Government following a crackdown on worthless degrees, after a website in China was found selling degree certificates from dozens of UK universities for £500 each. However, the UK is powerless to act against roughly 80 per cent of offenders because they are based outside the country and cannot be prosecuted, according to Prospects, the graduate careers expert. As the project starts its second year, it will focus on dealing with offenders at a local level through international collaboration with the equivalent authorities overseas, HEDD said.

China is warning its students to steer clear of fake universities. An information website has published a list of 30 such institutions following the annual college entry exam in June. This is the sixth such list in existence. Apparently, faking an entire educational institution isn’t all that difficult. And authorities say they’re becoming harder to spot. No less than a dozen provinces and regions – including Beijing and Shanghai - were mentioned in a list by sdaxue.com, an education information website, according to Xinhua. Some 30 fake universities were mentioned, compounding an already fat list of 400 since 2013.

The Department of Homeland Security arrested 21 people Tuesday on charges that they had recruited thousands of students through the promise of fraudulently obtained visas. At the center of the arrests was the University of Northern New Jersey, the brainchild of federal agents who masqueraded as representatives of a for-profit university to ensnare the recruiters.