T

he National Police say more complaints have been lodged against higher education institutions that are alleged to have issued fake degrees since the Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry filed a report against one such institution last month.

The National Police'€™s detective division chief, Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, said that they were currently looking into reports from the Medan Police in North Sumatra which targeted the University of North Sumatra.

'€œWe'€™re currently focusing on this university in Medan, North Sumatra,'€ he told reporters.

Budi said that investigators were looking into two possibilities '€” if students had bribed the university to get diplomas or if the college lacked the proper permits.

'€œThere are many ways we can declare degrees invalid. There are some that have been faked, while others were invalid because they did not have the right permits or they issued a degree under a different institution'€™s name,'€ he said.

According to initial evidence, investigators suspect that the rector of the university, Marsaid Yusnar, has issued more than 100 fake diplomas of the 1,200 he issued overall since 2008.

Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir recently announced during a surprise inspection of the International Management Institution of Indonesia (LMII) in Central Jakarta that all degrees issued by the institution were invalid since it possessed only a permit for short courses, not a higher education permit.

The Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry has filed a report with the police against the LMII for allegedly violating the 2003 National Education System Law and the 2012 Higher Education Law by issuing degrees without a permit.

The LMII is one of 18 universities nationwide that the ministry suspects has issued fake degrees over the years. However, the ministry currently only has evidence against the LMII.

The 2003 law stipulates that those who issue, help to issue or use fake degrees will face a maximum prison sentence of five years or a fine of Rp 500 million (US$37,836).

The LMII claimed to have been a branch of the University of Berkley in Michigan, the US, for the past 10 years and had offered online courses in undergraduate and postgraduate programs, although the programs at the LMII are listed as illegitimate by the states of both Michigan and Texas.

Budi said that an investigation into the LMII was still underway but acknowledged that investigators were having difficulty pinpointing whether or not a criminal offense had occurred.

'€œ[Whether or not the LMII will be prosecuted] depends on if they issued fake degrees on purpose. If it was deliberate then of course they will be charged,'€ he said.

Following the findings, Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Yuddy Chrisnandi took action and issued a circular urging all ministries, government agencies and local administrations to look into diplomas that civil servants claimed to hold. Those found to be using a fake diploma should face administrative sanctions, the circular said.