Several politicians are accused of ‘misleading voters’ during elections last year and for having fake or questionable academic qualifications. Deputy Foreign Minister’s academic credentials were the first to be called into question. After a police report, he admitted the unaccredited Cambridge International University in the United States granted his degree, which some have claimed was a diploma mill.

In order to cope with the assessment demands of rapidly growing student numbers, and rising incidents of grade tampering and cheating, many African universities are exploring the option of e-exams. While the traditional systems can go as far as bribe-taking by lecturers, invigilators and supervisors as well as examination leakages, e -exams might not be suitable for testing skills like synthesizing information, understanding evidence, critical problem-solving.

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.

The report of the National Anti-Corruption Commission revealed suspicions of financial and administrative corruption in the public education sector for the year 2018. These suspicions include embezzlement of funds by the accountant of a college in Menzel Bouzelfa (Nabeul), as well as the appropriation of public funds by the headmaster of a primary school in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid.