Intellect for sale in black market!

Manama : Corruption exists in all spheres of life and even students aren’t spared. Many rackets are thriving in the region by forging master’s thesis and doctoral dissertations, which are bought by students after paying hefty amounts. Sources say these rackets have a strong network across the region including Egypt and Morocco, which they use to market “their products” before finding “suitable customers”. These theses and doctoral dissertations are sold for amounts varying between BD1,400 and BD3,000 each. A former library employee in Muharraq, who got a deep knowledge on how these network function, spoke to Tribune, on grounds of anonymity. 

“There is a plenty of demand for these products among the students as most of them don’t want hard work. The rackets have all resources at their avail. Be it biochemistry or information science, dissertations are manufactured and kept ready and delivered promptly upon receiving payment.” How does these networks operate? It’s very simple. They operate in different layers. First thing is to collect copies of old theses and dissertations from universities across the world, which is followed by finding right customers. Subsequently, well-paid subject experts are deployed to tailor these papers according to the customers’ requirements. “It takes less than three months to forge a thesis. Everything can be cooked up, be it statistics, public opinion or scientific hypothesis.” 

“Once the thesis or dissertation is ready, students are provided with dossiers, shedding light on the basic aspects of the topic on which the research has been done. This is for the students to convince their supervisors or doctoral guides that the research had been done in good faith.” He said students are lured by the marketing team of these rackets, which operates successful businesses in the Kingdom. “Apart from Bahrain, the network is very well established in Kuwait and Egypt.” “There are no real resources, but a huge collection of PDF files for all disciplines. There are special websites in Arabic, which give information on the presentation of these theses. Things are copied without making any references to original sources.” 

The Ministry of Education is aware of these fraudulent activities. It has warned both students and manipulators of strict legal actions including being referred to Public Prosecution’s Office. The ministry has stressed that it is exerting great efforts to ensure that all students strictly go through standard and established practices before obtaining qualifications. “This is important in preserving the reputation and quality of educational institutions in the kingdom and the degrees offered by them.” The ministry has alerted the General Secretariat of Higher Education Council to probe into the matter. “All grades, documents and transcripts at all higher educational institutions in the Kingdom are being reviewed. Suspected cases of frauds will be investigated and people behind these illegal activities will face legal action.”

With regard to Bahraini students obtaining qualifications from abroad, the ministry has appointed a national committee to evaluate qualifications and projects submitted by these students. “The ministry’s cultural attaches in other countries work along with the national committee to ensure the validity of qualifications.” The council, in 2013, referred many cases of fraud to the competent legal authorities. The University of Delmon was also accused of committing fraudulent activities. The Supreme Criminal Court has as well jailed a few university officials for their involvement in forgery. As of now, there are allegations of serious wrongdoings at the Arab Open University.