New law on the cards to act against degree mills - Star

Aug 30, 2009 By HARIATI AZIZAN

PETALING JAYA: The Higher Education Ministry is drafting a new law to give it more powers to act against degree mills in the country.

Higher Education director-general Prof Datuk Dr Radin Umar Radin Sohadi said that under current higher education laws, the ministry could take action against errant education providers only if they were registered as a university or college, or have an operation in the country.

“Our system is in place to protect students from unauthorised institutions. Unfortunately, there are too many loopholes, so we are looking at ways to strengthen our education laws to curb errant providers like degree mills,” he told The Star.

Under the Private Higher Education Institutions Act, he said, all private education service providers operating on Malaysian soil were required to register with the ministry and get its approval before they could run any programmes, including online and distance learning programmes.

“If they are not registered as an educational institution in Malaysia, we do not have the power to take any action against them.

“But if there is a strong case of fraud, they can be charged under the Police Act,” he said.

A recent Starprobe report on dodgy degrees revealed that most of the unauthorised education service providers were registered overseas or as business entities.

Another measure that was on the drawing board was a database of PhD holders in Malaysia, Dr Radin Umar said.

“We are reviewing existing laws to register PhD holders. The registry will be similar to that of professional bodies and the medical register (under the Malaysian Medical Council),” he said.

This would help weed out not only those who have qualifications from unrecognised institutions but also those who falsify their qualifications. He said details were still being finalised but the registry would likely be implemented by the end of the year.

“One aspect we are looking at is to make it compulsory for those who are looking to work as lecturers in public and private higher education institutions in the country to be registered with us.

“It is important to regulate this so we can protect the integrity of our academia,” Dr Radin Umar said.

He conceded that it would be impossible to compel all PhD holders to register their doctorates.

“It is something that we need to study but we are confident that many will register because most PhD holders will be looking to work as academics.

“This measure is vital if we are to attract more international students to study here and strengthen our position as a regional centre of higher education,” he said.