Ministry: Violating universities to face legal action

Manama, July 25 (BNA): The Public Relations and Media Directorate at the Ministry of Education has stressed that the Ministry is exerting tremendous efforts to ensure scientific diplomas and degrees issued by higher education institutions in Bahrain and abroad meet the accreditation and equivalence requirements, in line with its mandate to avoid any suspicion of the graduates’ qualifications and to preserve the repuation of Bahrain’s educational process and its outputs. In a statement, the Public Relations and Media Directorate pointed out that the Higher Education Council (HEC)’s Secretariat-General, ever since the issuance of the Higher Education Law in 2005, verifies the scientific qualifications issued by higher education establishments in Bahrain, as well as the marks’ reports and certificates of the host universities. It also refuses to accredit any suspiciouss degree, and refers them to the Public Prosecution and the competent authorities to take the necessary legal actions against them, the statement added. Regarding the scientific degrees obtained by Bahraini students from abroad, the statement asserted that the National Committee fo rthe Evaluation of Academic Qualifications, formed as per a ministerial edict in 1998, is in charge of verifying the validity and credibility of those qualifications, and does not accept any one that does not meet the accreditation requirements, in cooperation with Bahrain’s cultural offices abroad. The directorate said that the HEC’s Secretariat-General had referred a number of qualifications to the competent legal authorities in 2013 for falsification suspecions, including those of the Delmon University and the Arab Open University, whose gross violations were proved by the judical authorities. The statement affirmed that the HEC’s secretariat-general conducts regular visits to high education institutions across the kingdom to ensure they meet the necessary requirements, and is keen to inform the public and parents about any violations or irregularities through the media to make sure that students’ degrees are credible and not fake. The statement stressed that the Civil Service Bureau does not accept any local or external degrees unless they are accredited by the HEC’s secretariat-general, and the National Committee fo rthe Evaluation of Academic Qualifications, respectively.