A recent CBC Marketplace investigation has found that as many as 800 Canadians could have purchased a fake degree.
Dubravko Zgrablic, a Toronto professor, was one of the people who was found to possess a phony degree by Marketplace.
Zgrablic told the undercover journalists of CBC Marketplace that he obtained his master’s degree in computer science at Almeda University, which is a fake online school, according to the investigation.
According to CBC Marketplace, Almeda University has been linked to Axact, a Pakistan-based IT firm which has been uncovered as “the world’s biggest diploma mill” and which recently closed.
Zgrablic has taught at Centennial College, the University of Toronto, Ryerson University and Seneca College, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Althea Blackburn-Evans, director of media relations at the University of Toronto, confirmed to CBC Marketplace Zgrablic’s employment as a professor at the school of continuing studies between 2007 and 2012.
She said in a statement to Marketplace that while publicly available material such as past course material pages would have made Zgrablic’s employment history public, privacy laws prevent the school from making any further comments on his employment.
While Seneca College refused to comment for privacy reasons, they said in their statement that they take their hiring practices seriously.
Ryerson University’s response did not clarify whether Zgrablic was an employee of the school. However, Centennial College confirmed his hiring in 2003 but noted Almeda University was not a factor in their hiring decision.
The Marketplace team “spent months combing through thousands of degree transactions, cross referencing personal information with customers’ social media profiles,” according to the article.
Steven Reid, Carleton University’s media relations officer, said in an email that when hiring, Carleton faculty candidates are required to provide references independently of their application package, which are reviewed by the hiring committee.
“Due to the high level of achievement attained by the faculty hired by Carleton, most candidates are well known by reputation prior to [the] interview process,” he said.
However, the phony university and fake degree industry is not a new phenomenon.
In 2008, a Toronto Star investigation focused on Peng Sun, a York University graduate, who forged university degrees from real Canadian universities, according to the Star. Recently, Erwin Sniedzins, a Toronto business management consultant, told the CBC he was upset to learn that his degree was fake, after he found a university offering a master’s degree for a $8,100 fee, which required no studying or exams, according to the article.
Marketplace’s investigation revealed that Kings Lake University, which issued Sneidzins’ degree in education, is fake.
He told the CBC he was looking for a university to “validate” his professional and life experience and thought the university was real.
“I really feel stupid if that’s the case, and I’m angry about it,” Sniedzins told CBC.
Axact’s U.S. lawyer, Todd A. Holleman, told CBC Marketplace “the company does not own or operate any online education websites or schools, and that there has never been any evidence produced to show that Axact owns or operates these diploma mills.”
—with files from Fatum Ali
Photo by Meagan Casalino
