Fake degrees: Culprits will be exposed

ZAMBIAN professionals with fake degrees bought from dubious online universities will soon be exposed, the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZQA) has warned.

This follows an expose involving Axact, a company that has sold more than 215, 000 bogus degrees to gullible politicians and businessmen globally, including Zambia.

According to information obtained by the Daily Nation, Axact, which claims to be the "world's largest IT company," operates a network of hundreds of fake online universities run by its agents. With names such as Brooklyn Park University and Nixon University, they had featured fake images of smiling students and even news articles singing the institution's praises.

Master's degrees, doctorate and PhDs were among the fake qualifications sold by Axact.

Commenting on the development, Zambia Qualifications Authority, Technical Manager, Tyson Simuzingili, said they would investigate to establish people who had obtained qualifications from Axact or any other bogus institutions.

Mr Simuzingili said ZQA had taken the matter seriously and would take action to crack down on degree fraud in Zambia.

"The revelation is an eyeopener to us as Zambia Qualifications Authority. And I can assure you that the authority will not take this matter lightly," said Mr Simuzingili.

He said although ZQA had not yet dealt with any case involving Axact, it was committed to investigating the matter.

He said professionals serving in both private and public sectors would be scrutinised and those found wanting would be dealt with accordingly.