Fake PhDs and fake colleges flood Zimbabwe

Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo, has warned that government will soon clamp down on unscrupulous institutions offering dubious degrees and corrupt individuals who have been buying or receiving the qualifications.


Moyo made remarks while officiating a graduation ceremony at Mutare Polytechnic College last Friday. His remarks follow the mushrooming of dubious colleges across the country offering fake degrees to individuals.

Said Moyo: “The entities in question are neither registered nor accredited to award any degrees or to offer any academic programmes.

“The individuals who have been getting these dubious degrees from dubious organisations have no academic or any other rational basis to get the degree besides that they have been able to buy them.”

Moyo said his ministry was finalising a draft legislation to make it a criminal offence for individuals and organisations not registered or accredited as a tertiary or a higher education institution to offer any degree.

“The ministry has witnessed with utter dismay a growing trend of some philanthropic organisations awarding PhDs and the recipients of those dubious PhDs going around calling themselves Drs so and so,” said Moyo.

He said those involved in this practice would soon face criminal prosecution, adding, “so the alternative is to stop it now otherwise the impeding consequences will be too ghastly to deal with”.

Moyo said Zimbabwe is known for its high standards of education and his ministry will do everything possible in terms of the law to protect these standards as a matter of national interest.

He also said his ministry was proposing to undertake a comprehensive National Manpower Survey or National Skills Audit that will provide “a true national outlook in terms of availability or shortage of skills for period 2016-2026”.

“The survey should provide government, employers, investors, individuals as well as educators and trainers with the current state of Zimbabwe`s strategic skills and what is required going forward given the country`s quest for industrialization and modernisation,” said Moyo.