A register of people who lie about their qualifications and of fly-by-night institutions needs to be developed, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday.
Nzimande expressed concern on behalf of the government about the increase in incidents of people forging or misrepresenting their qualifications, as well as institutions which were unregistered or offered worthless qualifications.
"This is a very serious matter, insofar as it can also discredit our entire higher education system," Nzimande told reporters in Parliament during a social protection, community and human development cluster briefing.
"A simple way of putting it is, a name and shame list."
Legislation would need to be amended to make provision for such register.
Nzimande believed tougher sanctions were needed and said the register would be made public.
"If you lie about your qualifications or you produce a false certificate, it is fraud already in terms of existing laws.
"The problem we have is that people take this so lightly, they don't report , sometimes it gets reported and it's taken as a very minor... offence. We want it to be taken seriously by society as a whole," he said.
His department would also engage with institutions in the criminal justice system on the matter.
Time to name and shame degree fakers - Nzimande
Nzimande expressed concern on behalf of the government about the increase in incidents of people forging or misrepresenting their qualifications, as well as institutions which were unregistered or offered worthless qualifications.
"This is a very serious matter, insofar as it can also discredit our entire higher education system," Nzimande told reporters in Parliament during a social protection, community and human development cluster briefing.
"A simple way of putting it is, a name and shame list."
Legislation would need to be amended to make provision for such register.
Nzimande believed tougher sanctions were needed and said the register would be made public.
"If you lie about your qualifications or you produce a false certificate, it is fraud already in terms of existing laws.
"The problem we have is that people take this so lightly, they don't report , sometimes it gets reported and it's taken as a very minor... offence. We want it to be taken seriously by society as a whole," he said.
His department would also engage with institutions in the criminal justice system on the matter.
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