I the aftermath of a series of fake academic credentials cases, the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) has announced its plan to coordinate with local higher education institutions and international exam bodies to prevent similar cases in the future.
The director of DSEDJ, Kong Chi Meng, shared the bureau’s measures on preventing students from applying to local tertiary education institutions with fraudulent documents, as aired on the Chinese radio show from Teledifusão de Macau (TDM) last week.
This concern is mainly due to the recent discovery of 24 students submitting fraudulent Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) results in their application for admission at the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST).
Kong said that after a similar series of cases in Hong Kong were discovered in May, the DSEDJ met local higher education institutions at once to discuss the improvement of verification rules as well as the thorough inspection of academic qualifications.
The director said unlicensed education agencies have been employing new methods to carry out fraudulent operations.
“They counterfeit certificates, exam results, academic qualifications, and others. The Macau University of Science and Technology found these cases by conducting spot checks following our guidelines. They proactively verified with the relevant Hong Kong exam body. The organization responded that these academic qualifications were fraudulent,” he said.
The DSEDJ said it will coordinate with mainland and international exam bodies to create an official verification channel to prevent similar situations.
Representatives from the University of Macau (UM), the Macau University of Tourism (UTM), and the Macau Polytechnic University (MPU) were also present on the radio show, emphasizing that they would revoke the degrees of those who enroll with fake academic credentials. Staff Reporter
