Case Study

Innovation to Overcome cancelled Graduation

Innovation to Overcome cancelled Graduation
during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Owing to the international COVID-19 outbreak, graduation ceremonies at most South African universities have been cancelled or postponed. This leaves university graduates at a disadvantage in two specific areas.

Firstly, new graduates are unable to secure employment. Without a physical degree parchment, graduates are unable to prove qualification to employers. There are, at this time, no university staff available to verify qualifications of graduates.

Innovation to Overcome cancelled Graduation during the COVID-19 Lockdown — Rhodes University

Secondly, the system to screen graduate qualifications for legitimacy is currently unavailable. At most universities, this is a labour intensive, manual search through university archives which costs the potential employer approximately R200-R400 for qualification check. Normal practice would be for an employer to require verification from the university that the qualification presented by the applicant is legitimate. With no university staff currently available to perform this verification, qualification fraud is undetectable.

The Fake Degree Problem

One of the main sources of fake degrees in circulation is so-called ‘degree mills’. These are illicit businesses that generate falsified qualifications, not limited to degrees but also diplomas, certificates and other qualifications. In 2015, the New York Times reported over 3300-degree mills making a billion-dollar industry. This problem, unfortunately, is ever-increasing. The South African people are not exempt from this rampant worry. SAQA (The South African Qualification Authority) has shown a 2000% increase in the number of reported fake qualifications between 2011/12 to 2017/18.

Show more

Small businesses are not the only victims of these fake degrees. There have been several sensational scandals regarding important members of large companies having faked their degrees. In 2012, the former CEO of Yahoo, Scott Thompson, was found to have faked his computer sciences degree. This scandal happened at a very difficult time for Yahoo, which was already falling prey to the increased competition from Google and Facebook. This resulted in a major crash in Yahoo shares. Further proof that qualification fraud directly affects the bottom line. In South Africa, former SABC chairperson, Zandile Ellen Tshabalala falsely claimed to have a Bcom degree from UNISA (the University of South Africa). Additionally, it was discovered that Hlaudi Motsoeneng, SABC chief operations faked his matric qualification. Several other high-powered South Africans including a member of parliament have admitted to having faked their qualifications.

Because fake degrees have become such a major industry there are thousands of different methods that these criminals use to create fake degrees, below are some examples.
● Individuals claim to have degrees from universities that do not exist. Many of these false institutions have very persuasive websites and other web presence. It is very difficult to determine which of these universities are real, as a simple search may appear extremely convincing.
● People that have never attended a known university and generate a fake degree from that institution.
● Some people who were once enrolled for a qualification but never finished, often present fake certificates of completion.
● This problem is not limited to degrees, other tertiary qualifications such as short courses and diplomas are often faked.

Show less

The Veri-Quik Solution

Rhodes University has eradicated the above disadvantages for graduates by implementing the innovative Veri-Quik system. Veri-Quik provides each graduate with a secure, verifiable link to their degree certificates. Better yet, when the hard copies arrive, they are counterfeit proof as a result of powerful security features, including watermarks, microtext and a verifiable QR code. Each degree has a QR code which can be scanned using any smart device. Practically, this translates to degree verification, a once arduous and expensive process, taking a few seconds and not costing anything.

Many South African universities remain loyal to outdated document systems due to the lack of alternative solutions. Veri-Quik eases the transition from manual to electronic qualification verification as the institution retains complete control of the Veri-Quik process. While no effort goes into the individual qualification verification checks, the system can be fully accessed and controlled by the institution. By collaborating with the Veri-Quik team, the institution ensures that all unique needs are met. While the client administration portal allows the institution to be involved with every step of the document manufacturing process.

SABC News

In light of the cancelled graduation season and the effect that it will have on the employment potential for many South African students, Veri-Quik offers the ideal solution. With the Veri-Quik online document verification system, Rhodes University was able to send the Veri-Quik verification link to the graduate - removing the need for face-to-face contact with graduates and mass gatherings during COVID-19. This serves as the perfect interim measure to address the need of graduates to be able to offer proof of their degrees to employers as well as ensuring the University protects their students.

By partnering with Veri-Quik, Rhodes University has ensured their graduates are able to continue into the job market, provided future protection for the Rhodes University brand and brought degree verification into the modern age.

Impressive

I'm interested

Please enter your name and email address. We will be in touch.