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After studying for two years to be a teacher, one student found out that the degree her school offers is worthless. It is a story being replayed across many Indian cities. Poorly regulated, unaccredited and often entirely fake colleges have sprung up as demand for higher education accelerates, driven by rising aspirations and a bulging youth population.

According to the most recent report of Accredibase, the UK-based background screening company Verifile Limited, there was a staggering 48% increase in the number of known degree or diploma mills operating worldwide last year. It identified more than 2,500 bogus institutions across all regions, but primarily in North America and Europe.

The National Council for Higher Education has ordered the closure of Luweero University and Central Buganda University (CBU). The council also says Namasagali and Fairland Universities have up to December to improve their facilities or face closure. The council's deputy executive director said they had written to the Inspector General of Police to effect the closure. "Luweero University and CBU are illegal and any student who goes there does so at his or her own risk. The council does not recognise them as universities and we have requested the Police to close them down." Both Luweero and CBU have over 2,000 students studying Business Administration, Social Work and Social Administration as well as Computer Science.

From 1995 to 2001, Nigerian degree mills produced annually about 15 percent of total university graduates in the country. In the past 9 years, a flurry of activity has been directed at eradicating the degree mills. In 1999, the National Council on Education (NUC) directed the closure of all local and foreign satellite campuses. It also partnered with the Department of State Services (Nigeria's secret service) in locating, arresting, and prosecuting operators of unapproved universities and satellite campuses. Finally, it directed approved universities to make full disclosure of their programs, which have been listed in the Directory of Approved Programmes in the Nigerian University System.

GetEducated.com, an online degree clearinghouse founded by Phillips in 1989, tracks more than 200 fake online colleges in the USA alone, twice that many abroad. The sale of fake degrees, which at an average cost less than 500 dollars per diploma, has become a multi-million dollar business. A fake degree is a fast, cheap way to quality for high paying employment. Search engines accept listing from colleges without screening for accreditation.

The question of who in Government that gave the so-called "fake" St. Luke Medical School the permission to operate as a medical school in Liberia is now a puzzle. The Ministry of Health, the Social Welfare and the Medical Board that should have some ideas about the function of this school, have all backed-off and threatening to prosecute the founder. The reported illegal operation of the school was discovered two months ago when it was raised alarm concerning awarding degrees on the internet.