Forged by need and desire to impress - Star

Nov 30, 2008

Here are two true accounts concerning bogus degrees, related by a human resources practitioner.

Case 1: Anonymous letter raises red flag

ANTHONY* had been offered a job as an engineer at an electronics company. It didn’t take him long to establish a good rapport with his workmates. His manager, especially, was very pleased with his performance and the way he carried himself.

Everything went well for Anthony until a year later, when his company received an anonymous letter which claimed that he had lied about his academic background and did not have a degree, as stated in his job application.

The HR personnel took the letter seriously and began an investigation. They found that Anthony’s certificate was almost the same as those certificates submitted by other graduates from the same university, except for one thing – the signature of the vice-chancellor was different.

When this came to light, Anthony’s manager was upset and decided to terminate his services for forging his academic documents.

“There was no way that we could have identified the discrepancy if we didn’t have other certificates from the same institution to refer to,” says a human resources manager who used to work at that company.

He reckons that Anthony was able to handle his job because of the basic knowledge gathered during his diploma studies, and some work experience he had prior to joining the company.

“Anthony apologised and said he wanted the job badly. But I said no, because integrity is one of the fundamental values of a company,” he says.

Case 2: Boost for social status

DARREN* does not have a diploma or a degree but that did not stop him from becoming a successful entrepreneur. After working for three decades, the SPM-holder felt it was high time he attained some form of academic recognition.

Darren was thrilled when he got his “MBA” and began telling his friends about it. Most of them were impressed with his achievement. However, one friend, a human resources manager, became suspicious when Darren mentioned that he’d paid about RM20, 000 for his entire MBA programme. Besides, it struck him that the “assignments” Darren supposedly did for his post-grad qualification were not “challenging” enough for an MBA student.

“But I did not want to probe further because we were at a social gathering,” recalls the HR manager. “Although he never admitted that his was a ‘bogus’ degree, things didn’t sound right to me, based on what he said.”

Unlike Anthony, who falsified his academic records to advance his career, the HR manager thinks Darren probably did it to boost his social status.

“I don’t think he even cares if his degree is authentic or not. He’s already successful and doing very well in his own business. The MBA is just to make him look even better.”