FOR years a small group of Serbian academics working at universities in the UK has been uncovering fake doctoral theses by Serbia’s leading politicians. The governor of the central bank, the finance minister and former mayor of Belgrade, the leader of a local council in one of Belgrade’s boroughs… the list goes on.

So far none of them has been stripped of his title, mainly thanks to political influence and protection. One of those whose doctoral thesis was shown to have been heavily plagiarised is the current Interior Minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic. Recently, however, it turned out that the minister – one of the people closest to the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic – may not even have a degree.

A recently leaked document showed that in 2004 Stefanovic approached a private university in Belgrade to have his degree obtained abroad validated in Serbia.

According to Serbian law at the time, a degree obtained abroad was void unless validated by a recognised university in Serbia.

The leaked document showed that the minister graduated from a UK-based Megatrend International Expert Consortium Limited; he had his degree officially translated from English into Serbian so that he could request nostrification.

The problem was there was no trace of that “university” in the UK. It seemed to have shared the exact same address with tens of other companies and the accounts it filed with Companies House show hardly any turnover since 1990, when Megatrend IEC Ltd was first registered in the UK.

Furthermore, the company was never registered as a university, neither with Companies House (where all companies trading in the UK must be registered), nor with the Department of Education.

When the story broke in Serbia, Stefanovic told the press there that he had actually never studied in London.

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He insisted that he attended lectures, organised and run by Megatrend IEC Ltd, at a conference centre in Belgrade, which raised eyebrows.

His UK degree in business and management was then formally validated by Megatrend University in Serbia. Both institutions are owned by Mica Jovanovic, a colourful character who previously falsely claimed to have a doctorate from the London School of Economics.

Now Jovanovic insisted that his London-registered university had a licence to operate in Serbia, although neither he nor Stefanovic explained why in that case the minister had to have his degree translated and validated.

Jovanovic also said that over a thousand students graduated from the same programme, although journalists in Serbia managed to find only two, one of which is another politician.

Stefanovic has so far not produced his degree or disclosed more about his studies.

While Megatrend International Expert Consortium Ltd is now a dormant company, those looking for a quick degree in the UK can go to the West London Business School (WLBS).

This virtual university, also run by Megatrend Serbia, offers Masters’ degrees in just 12 weeks. Like its predecessor, WLBS does not have any premises and it has never been registered as a university. It seems to be nothing more than a letter-box company.

Curiously, a university that charges between three and six thousand pounds for a degree, is registered as a micro company, with assets in 2018 worth a total of £549.

Megatrend IEC Ltd and WLBS are just two of tens, if not hundreds, of scammers offering university degrees in the UK. While strictly speaking, it is not an offence for foreign institutions to offer degrees in the UK as long as they make it clear those are not UK degrees, this kind of free-for-all creates confusion and undermines the reputation of the UK higher education.

The scale of the problem is best illustrated by the data provided by Prospects – a government appointed agency tasked with identifying bogus players: while there are 170 recognised institutions with degree-awarding powers in the UK, the list of bogus institutions has now reached 243.

Just in the last four years, 75 websites offering bogus degrees in the UK have been closed down.

Among those revealed as fake are International University Robert Gordon and McAllister University. Most of these fake universities are set up to scam unsuspecting students, while there are also those which serve mainly as visa mills for foreigners looking to come to the UK.

Meanwhile, back in Serbia the scandal around interior minister’s degree seems to have died down, mainly because in its place came another one – this time involving a company linked to the minister’s father which bought weapons from a state-owned Serbian manufacturer at discounted prices and then sold them to the Saudis.

Some of those weapons allegedly ended up in the hands of Daesh terrorists in Yemen.

Chris Rea, head of higher education services at Prospects, which runs the Hedd degree verification and fraud service, said: “The Department for Education maintains lists of current recognised UK degree course providers. This comprises institutions who have their own degree awarding powers, known as Recognised Bodies, as well as institutions who deliver degree courses that are awarded by a Recognised Body through validated or franchised arrangements.

“Under the Education Reform Act 1988, it is an offence for a body to award a UK degree or offer a UK degree course unless that body is already recognised and officially listed.

“Megatrend University is not on the official list and does not have the authority to award recognised UK degrees.”

Stefanovic and Jovanovic did not respond to a request for comment.

Aleksandar Kocic is a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University