Last updated 11:11, Saturday, 22 November 2008

For many years colleges and universities have been keen to ensure that further and higher education is open to all.

As more people apply for courses, dealing with admissions and checking qualifications becomes more complex and time-consuming.

Issues concerning qualifications hit the headlines earlier last month when Newcastle University announced that 50 overseas students (49 from China and one from Taiwan) had been expelled when it was discovered that they were admitted to courses mainly in the university’s business school with forged qualifications.

The forgeries came to light when it became clear that the students did not have the level of English to complete the courses. Eager to maintain the standards of their academic programmes the university took action and excluded the students.

The university explained that the forgeries were of a high quality and commented: “We would strongly advise other universities to look very carefully at the systems they have in place to detect fraudulent applications and strengthen them if necessary.

“The forgeries, mainly certificates for English language qualifications or degrees awarded by other universities, are of such high quality that they could not have been detected by the usual checks.”

Many of the students appear to have been victims of bogus agencies, paying on the understanding that they would deal with the application on their behalf, and unaware that forged qualifications were being submitted.

In trying to overcome the problem of forgeries, institutions should be careful they do not implement policies that are discriminatory.

For instance,if they decide to check only students from overseas, that this is potentially discriminatory, and, therefore, it might be wiser to check the qualifications of all students.