Uni will face legal action if found to be selling degrees: Supamas
Higher education minister orders immediate action over allegations of university selling degrees to wealthy students
A private university is facing action over reports that it granted degrees to certain wealthy students without them having to study.
Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Minister Supamas Isarabhakdi said on Monday that she set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the issue. The panel is led by her ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Prof Dr Supachai Pathumnakul.
Though the minister did not name the university in question, it is widely believed she was referring to Phitsanulok University.
Supamas said the committee will conduct the investigation and present her with a report as soon as possible.
Earlier, some people came forward to allege that they had been deceived by the president of a foundation into paying huge sums of money in exchange for degrees from Phitsanulok University, without needing to really study. They said they paid the money but did not get the degrees as promised.
Initially, the university denied it has ever sold degrees to wealthy students. But on July 4, the university issued a statement saying it had conducted an internal probe and learned that one of the lecturers was involved in a gang that sold university degrees for 200,000 baht.
The university said this lecturer had been fired and would face legal action. The university did not reveal the lecturer’s name.
Supamas, meanwhile, said that the ministry had taken the university under its control because it failed to meet the regulation stipulating the number of qualified lecturers. She said the university had been controlled by the ministry from March 14, 2023 to June 4, 2024.
While the university was under the ministry’s control, it was supervised closely, so the alleged selling of degrees could not take place during that period. This may have led to the dissatisfaction of the so-called degree buyers, Supamas added.
“The ministry will investigate the university to see if any degrees have been bought or sold as reported,” she said.
The minister added if the university is found to have sold degrees, then legal action will taken against its management and it may also lose its licence.
