Paraguay's Education Ministry denounces 550 potentially fake degrees, confirms 250 false titles

Paraguay's Minister of Education, Luis Ramírez, announced that the ministry has denounced around 550 potentially fraudulent "Ciencias de la Educación" degrees to the Prosecutor's Office. Of these, 250 have been confirmed as false, belonging to teachers who will now face legal proceedings. Universities have been unable to locate or verify the records for these degrees, with some indicating they were altered or falsified.

Ramírez stated that these 250 individuals obtained employment using these invalid titles, which will now be annulled by the judiciary. He noted that common anomalies found in these fraudulent degrees include a lack of student traceability, unreliable data on attendance, and no guarantees from the issuing universities. The minister acknowledged that prior to the current administration, there was a significant lack of control over academic records, with registrations often based on blind trust in universities.

In response to these issues, the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC) is developing a new system for registering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Paraguay. This system will be based on the "Registro Único del Estudiante de Educación Superior" (RUES), a unified registry intended to consolidate student histories and prevent the absence of reliable data. This initiative aims to enhance transparency and accountability in the academic credentialing process.

The minister's announcement comes amid an ongoing investigation into former congressman Hernán Rivas, who resigned from his seat due to allegations of possessing a fraudulent law degree. When questioned about Rivas's case and whether his degree exhibited similar traceability issues, Minister Ramírez avoided a direct response, instead reiterating the historical lack of oversight in the university system.