Tag Archives: Degree Mill

It is already clear that the PAP cocked up on the fake degree saga by relentlessly letting foreigners in without doing due diligence. It is clear as day that a committee needs to be set up (like what WP proposed) to weed through new applications as well as past applications, and kick them out. But doing this is akin to saying that they cocked up and WP made a good proposal. So rather than owning up to their mistakes they just try to sweep it under the carpet and treat it like nothing happened.

New Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say on Monday wrote an entry in his blog to explain how the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) treats forged degrees and those from degree mills in Employment Pass and S Pass applications. His explanation included an infographic (see below) and the potential penalty for providing forged degrees.

I did not study so hard to get a degree from an Accredited university for Singaporean employers to suddenly be allowed to consider applications of people with Mill degrees (as long as they have sufficient experience?!) Is this the civil service stand now? To even allow mill degrees to appear on our CVs? Isn't even applying with a mill degree a form of deceit in itself????

I came across this Linkedin profile for the General Manager of UnitedHealth Group in Singapore. It is a US health care company that has a branch in Singapore.

Nisha Padmanabhan, a new Singaporean of India origin has a Masters degree conferred by Southern Pacific University, a known degree mill. This issue was discovered by a sharp-eyed Singaporean who subsequently posted his discovery on popular Singapore social media websites. IDA's response has caused discomfort among civil servants, especially among ground officers within Immigration & Checkpoint Authority (ICA) which is known by the public to be the first line of defence against dubious characters who wish to relocate and work in Singapore.

Actually this whole IDA fake degree saga shows how rampant instant degrees are. The worst thing is that the government actually endorses it. This case really makes my blood boil. What happened to the meritocracy in Singapore? Where is the integrity in our Public Service like our founding father LKY established?

I am very disappointed in you, Mr Tan Chuan Jin. In your last day as Minister of manpower, you failed to reassure Singaporeans that we can live in Singapore without fear of being pushed out by foreigners holding fake degrees.

The IDA says that it is satisfied that applications consultant Nisha Padmanabhan did not deceive the agency by listing the MBA from Web-based Southern Pacific University, an alleged diploma mill, in her resume. The IDA added that Ms Padmanabhan's employment was not based on her MBA, as her position required only a bachelor's degree, and that it also considered her relevant skills and prior work experience.

Southern Pacific University might be an unaccredited institution, but the degree that she possesses is not a fake one as everyone is alleging. I have validated with some of my ex-colleagues who had their friends who did their courses from SPU. I understand that there were proper credit hours awarded through lecture sessions and dissertations that students had to complete before getting this degree.

We had initiated an investigation to validate Terence’s qualifications after he addressed himself with a professional title of “Dr.” when dealing with people outside of our organisation. The investigation revealed that Terence’s doctorate was from a degree mill. In consequence thereof, Terence was asked to resign with immediate effect in September 2013 and which act is in conformity with the established practice of our company.