DSI probes lecturers’ fake academic records
SOME UNIVERSITY lecturers have used fake degrees to secure teaching positions at prestigious institutions, according to a complaint lodged to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).
Assoc Prof Weerachai Phutdhawong, in his capacity as secretary-general of the Coordinating Centre for the Public Higher Education Staff, yesterday called on the DSI to investigate a website that had advertised surprisingly short courses for various degrees including doctorates.
Bogus website suspected
Weerachai said he suspected that the website had sold fake degrees and it seemed to have links to an institution known as World Peace University.
He said a lecturer at Kasetsart University absconded after a well-known British university had notified Kasetsart that the lecturer had never been a student, let alone a graduate.
The notification was sent after Kasetsart conducted background checks of its lecturers.
“We have not found a thesis the lecturer claimed he had written in the university’s online database either,” Weerachai said.
About 10 people have taught at universities for more than three years using fake degrees, he said.
DSI deputy spokesman Pol Lt-Colonel Worranan Srilum said his agency would look into the complaint
