Most people contemplating higher education spend four or five years or even more following high school in an institution to attain a college degree. In the age of internet, many have found an easier way of doing just that — one that does not entail spending four or five years or thousands of dollars. The avenue they chose is simply to buy a degree from one of the hundreds of bogus degree peddlers found on the internet.

Last week, a scandal that is gathering international attention, rocked Pakistan when the owner of a software company was arrested for running a global network of providing fake degrees for a price. Shoaib Shaikh, the CEO of the software company Axact, was picked up by the Pakistani authorities following an expose in a US newspaper that his company was raking in millions through the sale of fraudulent diplomas.

During the raid on his office in Karachi, police seized hundreds of thousands of fake degrees as well as a collection of machinery and devices that were used in the allegedly fraudulent business. According to an officer, the police discovered neatly arranged diplomas from bogus institutions stacked on shelves along the wall as well as student ID cards. “We have seized hundreds of thousands of fake degrees,” he said. “We have enough evidence to proceed — we have forensic evidence.”

It is unfortunate that bogus degrees have indeed become global anathema. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Higher Education had identified 110 offices selling forged degrees from non-Saudi universities. “The agencies were supplying these bogus degrees for the past several years,” said the undersecretary at the Ministry of Higher Education for academic matters, adding that the recent finding was just the tip of the iceberg. The degrees supplied by these diploma mills are not genuine or approved by any official body, and often not worth the paper they are printed on. They are issued by institutions that may offer courses without stringent controls or approved standards. Or they may simply be issued by the transfer of money into an overseas account.

Fake college degrees can be a profitable business for those orchestrating them. Prices for a fake bachelor’s or master’s degree can cost anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 Saudi riyal (Dh2,938 to Dh29,380) while a bogus doctorate degree can cost up to 90,000 riyal from an institution in the West.

The incident with the software company in Karachi is not an isolated event. With internet now in everyone’s reach, the issuance of fake degrees has become a universal scourge and has made it easier for diploma mills to snare prospective candidates for bogus certification through fake ads or spam. Such institutions simply create a website that looks like it belongs to a genuine university. A US media investigation team reported that such sites would provide online payment options for customers as well as details for prospective employers who might contact them to verify whether a degree is genuine or not, and that bogus degree markets thrive in Asia, Israel, Egypt and Eastern Europe.

Although there have been instances where students were genuinely unaware of the scam, in most cases, it was reported that the prospective degree recipients knew exactly what they were getting into. A US Department of Justice finding a few years ago created some ripples in Saudi Arabia when it named more than a hundred recipients of bogus PhD degrees from Saudi Arabia who obtained their certificates from diploma mills. What was discomforting was that some of them were holding executive positions in the government at the time, undoubtedly riding on the success of those fake degrees.

This brings up another question. Do we need to degree all our people? Is it the social trend that is creating pressure for one and all to seek a college degree? Those who are not earnest or committed enough or those who may just not be too bright in the confines of a university classroom may find the call of a diploma mill appealing. It is only the transfer of money and very little mental effort on the part of the recipient, and soon enough a snazzy and impressive piece of paper is in one’s hand, sure enough to impress any human resources manager.

There have also been a few cases where such degree holders were prompted by social pressure and not employment. Such people moving among a group of PhDs found it necessary to validate their standings among the group and the diploma mill was the most expedient method.

The Gulf Cooperation Council is not immune to the seductive call of a quick and easy path to a higher degree. Governments should tear away from the peculiar principle that everyone should hold a university degree. Such pressures could push some to take the easier bogus route. There are plenty of honourable professions that one can take up without a college degree.

It makes no sense insisting that only someone with a PhD can teach a basic course at university! Usually they cannot and have no interest in doing so. We have diluted our education systems and over-produced PhDs who now outnumber the jobs available. Bring back technical colleges, business colleges, vocational institutions and stop calling them universities.

This is what Saudi Arabia needs most — a nation of capable and qualified doers and not an inflated bunch of idle PhD holders.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.