These diploma and degree mills may further confuse matters by claiming to consider work history, professional education, and previous learning, and may even require the submission of a dissertation or thesis in order to give an added appearance of legitimacy.
[citation needed] Promotional materials may use words denoting a legal status such as "licensed", "state authorized", or "state-approved" to suggest an equivalence to accreditation.
[13] Despite the fact that trademark law is intended to prevent this situation, diploma mills continue to employ various methods to avoid legal recourse.
Depending on the institution, students may be required to purchase textbooks, take tests, and submit homework, but degrees are commonly conferred after little or no study.
Instead of "hard sciences", where competence is easier to verify, the subjects offered by a diploma mill are often esoteric and may be based on a pseudoscience like astrology or naturopathy.
[22] This should not be confused with legitimate programs offering recognition of prior learning, which allow students to gain academic credit based on past training, experience or independent study.
The Ministry of Education, which has legal authority to regulate college enrollment and degree awarding, publishes a yearly list of qualified higher-education institutions.
Any institution, public or private, which wishes to name itself after a geographic region larger than a province (e.g. "South China ... University") must go through the Ministry of Education.
However, some schools, like Det Nødvendige Seminarium in Tvind provide a degree program that is accredited by the Ministry of Education in Mozambique and the Southern African Development Community.
In Germany, it is a criminal offense to call an institution a Universität (university) or Fachhochschule, or to issue academic degrees, without authorization through an act of the respective state's Ministry of Education.
[43] It is illegal under Hong Kong laws chapter 320 Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance section 8 to call an organisation a "university" without approval from the Chief Executive in Council.
Under Hong Kong laws chapter 200 Crimes Ordinance section 73, anyone who knowingly uses false documents with the intention of inducing somebody to accept them as genuine is liable to 14 years' imprisonment.
The "Patent University" (ja:特許大学) was an example of a Japanese diploma mill which operated from 1964 until it was shut down in 1980, and which sold fraudulent doctorates for sums ranging between ¥300,000 and ¥5 million.
[47][48] In 2007, MEXT revealed that it had discovered 48 people with suspected falsified qualifications who were successfully hired to teach in 43 universities and post-secondary education institutes throughout Japan between 2004 and 2006.
279 establishing the processes and procedures related to the recognition of official validity of studies[54] The Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) lists several institutions that are unaccredited in Mexico.
[55] In August 2010, the Secretariat said 22 federal health officials were arrested after their medical and psychology licenses turned out to be fakes from a diploma mill according to the newspaper El Universal.
Newlands owner Rochelle M. Forrester said she would consider removing the word "university" from the name of her institution in order to comply with the law.
[61] However, the Axact company, based in Karachi, was the subject of a 2015 investigation by the New York Times, which found it was committing fraud in other countries, by granting fake degrees and diplomas.
[74] The Romanian newspaper Gândul has reported that the Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University from Bucharest started 34 Master's degree curricula which have no legal ground.
[75][76] According to the rector of the university, Corina Dumitrescu, the law has a loophole, since it uses a continuous present for institutional evaluation, which is uncharacteristic of the Romanian language.
In March 2006 prosecutors in Seoul were reported to have broken up a crime ring selling bogus music diplomas from Russia, which helped many land university jobs and seats in orchestras.
The case had a far-reaching impact as she was a professor at Dongguk University and also held a position at an art gallery known to have ties with economical and political figures.
Though aware that claiming an MBA from this diploma mill would be illegal in many states in the US, Littorin tried to convince the Swedish media and people of the legitimacy of his qualification.
It is an offence against section 214 of the Education Reform Act 1988 for any organisation to offer a degree qualification which could be taken to be that of a UK institution unless it is a "recognised body.
The country does not have a federal law that would unambiguously prohibit diploma mills, and the term "university" is not legally protected on a national level.
The United States Department of Education lacks direct plenary authority to regulate schools and, consequently, the quality of an institution's degree.
However, the Federal Trade Commission works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices including those in the field of education and alerts United States' consumers about diploma mills by delineating some tell-tale signs in its official web page.
In 2005, the US Department of Education launched its Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs website[92] to combat the spread of fraudulent degrees.
[94][95][96] Jurisdictions that have restricted or made illegal the use of credentials from unaccredited schools include Oregon,[94][95] Michigan,[97] Maine,[98] North Dakota,[94] New Jersey,[94] Washington,[95][99] Nevada,[95][100] Illinois,[95] Indiana,[95] and Texas.
[6] Diploma mills have also been linked to frauds in admissions,[109] English language proficiency testing,[110][111] and varsity athletics in the United States.