Can we really close down ‘diploma mills?’

My column last week, titled “Time to close diploma mills,” appears to have struck a nerve across the higher education sector.

While everyone agreed that “diploma mills” should be closed, I received text messages raising several concerns: the term needs to be defined; CHED lacks jurisdiction over many schools and has failed to regulate substandard ones; CHED can close programs but not HEIs, allowing substandard education to persist; victims often do not complain, perpetuating the system and hiring and promotion systems, particularly in DepEd, incentivize diploma mills.

Let me take these up one by one.

Several definitions of “diploma mills” exist. They include: “an institution or organization that grants large numbers of educational degrees based on inadequate or inferior education and assessment of the recipients” (Oxford Dictionaries); “an unregulated institution of higher education granting degrees with few or no academic requirements” (Merriam-Webster) and “an organization that gives educational qualifications to people in exchange for money, without them having to do any or much studying” (Cambridge Dictionary).

The first two definitions share the common element of granting degrees based on inadequate, limited, inferior or no academic education. The third definition adds the issue of granting educational qualifications in exchange for money.

Do “diploma mills” exist in the Philippines? Absolutely.

These include institutions that CHED has already closed, as well as nearly 200 teacher education institutions (TEIs) that the Commission found to have very low LET passing rates, no full-time deans, unqualified professors and outdated curricula. Some may be among the 170 TEIs that EDCOM II identified as having zero passing rates in recent years. CHED has reported these findings to EDCOM II, and the issue has repeatedly come up in congressional hearings. 

The third definition is just as instructive. Some notorious Philippine HEIs offer graduate programs to government employees, hold classes in government facilities after office hours, set very few academic requirements and pass every student. The most notorious ones offer programs nationwide, partner with small educational institutions and hold classes via Zoom.

In effect, they sell credentials for money. This is an open secret and if left unchecked, it will diminish the value of postgraduate degrees and tarnish the reputations of HEIs in the Philippines and abroad.

This was a major reason CHED tapped former CHED chair Ester Garcia and UPLB dean of Graduate Education (now Chancellor) Dong Camacho to formulate CMO 15 (Policies, Standards and Guidelines on Graduate Education) in 2019 to rationalize graduate education. The tightened standards initially sparked an uproar, but subsequent CHED CMOs have addressed the concerns and now simply need to be implemented seriously.

Does CHED have jurisdiction over HEIs that offer higher education degrees? Yes. However, numerous unrecognized fly-by-night schools offer degrees in religious education and divinity, or operate in obscure locations while enticing students with low tuition fees. They attract enrollees by awarding honorary (honoris causa) degrees to entertainers, police officials and local politicians, then displaying their photographs on large tarpaulins at strategic intersections.

A religious school awarded numerous Doctor of Divinity degrees and drew attention when it conferred an “honoris causa” on a popular actor. Upon investigation, CHED found that the school had awarded the same honor to several police officials in the region. CHED issued a press statement saying it had no authority to award those degrees. The next day, I was surprised when representatives came to my office and asked me to go easy on the school, claiming it had helped elect the president. I stood my ground.

In these instances, CHED can only direct the institutions to cease and desist from offering the program. It cannot close the programs, since they were never submitted for approval, or shut down the school, since it never applied for CHED recognition, even though it has SEC papers. 

Do victims file complaints and cases? Yes, many do, and those complaints prompt investigations by CHED regional offices. But it’s also true that many “victims” knew the degree program lacked CHED certification and enrolled anyway, thinking “baka sakali makalusot” (maybe I’ll get away with it).

Closing a program is a lengthy, tedious process during which HEIs can appeal to the Commission. Many exploit this loophole to keep their degree programs running by filing repeated appeals and, if those appeals are denied, eventually seeking humanitarian consideration.

CHED should review and update its policies, shorten the appeals process and make decisions more quickly. Endless appeals and delayed decisions allow diploma mills to proliferate and create opportunities for corruption.

Do hiring and promotion practices at educational institutions encourage diploma mills? Requiring postgraduate degrees for recruitment and promotion may pressure graduates to obtain them by any means. Some argue that HEIs place too much emphasis on graduate degrees and too little on the quality of the teaching students receive.

But we do live in a credentialed society – the whole world does – and this is standard practice at universities worldwide. Anyone pursuing a teaching career, especially in higher education, must meet the requirements for advanced postgraduate degrees. These degrees test an academic’s mettle through rigorous research; a PhD also requires developing new knowledge and theories and contributing to the field.

Yes, we can shut down diploma mills by tightening standards, strengthening enforcement, improving coordination among government agencies and recognizing that excellence in higher education is required, not optional.