Published 1/10/2015
Have you ever considered verifying the authenticity of the degrees of your recently hired professors, lecturers or fellows?
After we were asked how to verify the prestigious American degrees (including a PhD that was never actually granted) of an eminent professor who was already well over 50 and had a long academic career behind him, we asked a member of our team to conduct an investigation.
And this was the dilemma faced by the university directors who had to decide how to respond to a moving letter received by the rector. It had been written by a grieving mother who had recently lost her son. She thanked the university for the joy that their son’s pharmacy degree, which hung on their living room wall, had given them. It turned out that it was a fake. What would you have done if you were part of that university’s legal department?
We surveyed a sampling of institutions to find out how they handle requests for verification of their degrees. You will find revealing responses from the US, Canada, Switzerland and France by following the links below. (The responses are currently only available in French.)
What to do to verify the authenticity of degrees
• To verify the authenticity of degrees awarded in the United States
• To verify the authenticity of degrees awarded in Canada
• To verify the authenticity of degrees awarded in Switzerland