Should I said something? (Bogus PhD)

[MrPanda]

Yes, my students are poor. The region is the second to last region of Peru (here we have regions, instead of states).

Yes, I also imagine that the coordinators and the director don´t have any knowledge of recognition procedures, or how to identify fake from real.

Many years ago, there were some students at a university in Lima, that were not happy with his teacher, that was extremely rigorous in the way he was grading. He justified by saying that that was the way he learned "en la Universidad de Cambridge".

However, it was not "University of Cambridge" of course, but "Cambridge University", a diploma mill based in Bermuda I think. I told them about that, but in that case, my opinion was asked.

One more think about this institute, something that I didn´t notice before, in that class/talk that we had, I also listened to some of the other teachers talking, and someone spoke about studying in Lima (the capital of the country), as being a big achievement (since he studied a master program there). I live in Lima, so for me, it´s normal, but for them, it was a big thing. So I can guess that they can get impressed with a "PhD" from USA.

[bjcheung77]

On the sister board, we've talked about people who have doctoral degrees such as, PhD and even MD degrees from non-accredited, shady schools, that are either state approved to operate as a business, or internationally as a business (not really as an institution that is authorized by the country they're in). Anyways, I find it scary as some of these institutions are in the "health field" where they give you a "Doctor" title and people practice alternative medicine from these fake degrees. It's really sad these guys do such a thing... Here's an example from a while back, 2 years ago or so: https://greekreporter.com/2020/06/23/fak...in-greece/

[elcastor21]

I´m teaching 2 courses at an institute at a poor region of Peru (remote).

Here institutes teach 3 years careers (technicians), but then they can go to university if they want, but they would usually need to study 3 more years (6 in total, instead of the normal 5 years bachelor degrees).

And they started hiring a person to talk about "Transformational Leadership".

Okay, not my favorite topic, but I can listen and try to learn.

But the lady started talking about how she was an example, since she studied so much and got certifications, and then she also mentioned: "I have a Doctorate in International Business".

Even in the cover picture of her Linkedin profile, it says "Ph. D". Really big.

However, there was no Ph.D. at all in the national registry.
And her Ph.D. at linkedin was listed as lasting for 1 year.

When I looked up the "school", it was obviously a non-accredited Florida "school".

Should I call my superior to tell them that they should look it up?

Maybe it doesn´t matter, since the topics of the conferences are so soft, and the PhD is not a requirement at all, but if she´s is putting herself as an example about what the others can do. I don´t know if that´s correct.

Maybe I shouldn´t say anything. Who knows the correct answer.

I don´t know in Peru, but in El Salvador, if you´re teaching (or pretty much doing anything) with a degree not recognized by the ministry of education as equivalent to a local degree, your career is as good as dead...

I would tell them about where the degree institution and their lack of accreditation or recognition by the Ministry, just don´t say mill or Florida(it will sound like just another RA US degree)

[GameSlinger]

From an ethical standpoint, I believe it should be called out and addressed. As others have mentioned, you can do so anonymously to protect yourself. Based on your description of the location the person is dealing with, someone with a questionable degree may still be better than not having someone, but that decision can only be made if they know all the details.

[GameSlinger]

Although slightly different, authentic college names can be so similar that there is confusion, even among prospective students. Here is one example that I remember and that can be confusing during interviews even because most of the time people will not say the full name when saying where they went to school, such as saying Thomas Edison, rather than Thomas Edison State University.

https://www.collegesimply.com/colleges/c...university
https://www.cornellcollege.edu/about-cor...haca.shtml