Damascus University seeks to combat forged degrees

Damascus University recently issued its first digitally enhanced diplomas, part of an initiative to combat the use of forged diplomas by students wanting to claim they graduated from the country’s oldest institution of higher education, writes Riham Alkousaa for Al-Fanar.

Reports have surfaced of diploma-forging rackets in Turkey and in Persian Gulf countries, as Syrian refugees who have fled their country’s brutal war seek to boost their qualifications in order to gain access to educational or work opportunities, either in the region or beyond.

“Some people believe that holding a university degree improves their chances of getting refugee asylum in Europe,” said Nour Murad (29), a Syrian journalism masters student at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. Accurate statistics about the phenomenon are not available. But Damascus University Provost Abbas Sandouk recently told the Syrian newspaper Al Watan that he discovered a batch of 70 fake certificates in 2014 that were clearly the tip of an iceberg of fake credentials circulating among Syrian emigrants. Efforts to fix the problem started soon afterwards.
Full report on the Al-Fanar site