The Ministry of Higher Education has rejected 500 degrees and certificates its holders had received from fake and unapproved universities abroad.

A ministry committee made these rulings out of 11,500 equivalency decisions taken last year.

Abdullah Al-Qahtani, director general of the Equivalency Directorate, said the certificates involved mostly administrative and humanities majors.

“The decision to reject a number of certificates submitted for equivalency is normal. Rejections occur because students might have gone to universities that are not approved by the Ministry of Higher Education, they were not present in the country offering the course during their study period, the certificates might have been associated with fictitious universities, or students might not have achieved the minimum grade requirements,” Al-Qahtani said.

He said most of the rejections were for qualifications received at Arab universities.

He said the directorate would shut down 20 businesses and arrest their owners for deceiving citizens into getting fictitious degrees.

He said the process of accrediting and checking qualifications has been made easier with an Internet-based electronic system introduced three years ago. The system also allows the ministry to have contact with cultural attaches in countries where students have studied.

“Certificates are then accredited online to make sure they are genuine, and whether students were enrolled at the particular university during the entire period of their studies."

He said cultural attaches supervise and take care of students and are not part of the directorate. The equivalency process requires scientific, medical, engineering, administrative, legal and other specialized committees and is one of the tasks of the University Equivalency Committee, which has 70 members, he said.