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India’s fake degrees: hundreds in Singapore, Malaysia, US, Canada left questioning qualifications after Manav Bharti University scandal

  • The private university in Himachal Pradesh state sold 36,000 degrees for as little as US$1,362 each, an Indian government agency investigation found
  • Graduates of the institution are now being pressured by employers around the world to prove that their qualifications are genuine

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Manav Bharti University campus in Solan, India's Himachal Pradesh state. Photo: Facebook
Sonia Sarkarin New Delhi
Hundreds of alumni of a private university in India accused of issuing fake degrees have been left in a state of limbo, as their employers in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, South Africa, the United States and Canada pressure them into proving that their qualifications are real.

Manav Bharti University (MBU) in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh has allegedly sold as many as 36,000 degrees since it was founded in 2009, for prices ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 rupees (US$1,362-4,085), an Indian government agency investigation found last month. Of the 41,000 degrees issued by the university in that time, only 5,000 were found to be genuine.

For MBU graduates like SK*, a 33-year-old Nepali who has a visa interview at the US embassy scheduled for next month, the revelation has upended his future plans.

“I doubt I will get approved [for the visa] if I cannot prove my degree is authentic,” said the Nepalese government employee, who has sent three emails to the university seeking clarification that his degree is genuine – all of which bounced. “My future looks bleak,” he said, adding that his qualifications had been verified by credential evaluations provider World Education Services in 2018.

Singapore’s Manpower Ministry announced on February 17 that it was investigating 15 work pass holders who had said in their visa applications that their degrees were from MBU – further fuelling allegations that Indian nationals had been allowed into the city state to take jobs that locals could have done, despite the government maintaining that this is not true.
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