4/29/2015

Degree mills in big trouble



The recent publicity and interest on degree mills are causing a big headache to the providers of such degrees. The publicity has given the degree mill seekers a better idea of what is available in the market. And knowing that degrees from degree mills are no longer held in contempt, no longer a crime to flaunt them, in fact there is a quiet acknowledgement that it is ok, nothing really wrong with such degrees, the demands for such degrees have shot to the sky. And there is also a precedent set, or not really precedent, but an acceptable excuse for anyone caught with attempting to get a degree from a degree mill. It is perfectly reasonable and acceptable to plead ignorance and sincerity in believing that the degree mill is genuine and not fake. There is a new ethos of willingness to compromise or to understand the innocence of the degree mill seekers and to empathise with them for their genuine effort to better themselves.

With this new trend of thinking and a more enlightened employer, many degree mill seekers, some graduates from reputable universities, are all scrambling to get the best degree from the best degree mill universities. Degree mill’s secretariats have all been flooded with calls from interested degree mill seekers enquiring on the credentials, the quality of the degrees, the type of degrees and even the quality of paper used, the stamps and reputation of the eminent persons signing the degree certificates.

Though the demands are very high, the job of the degree mills is not easy but getting more challenging and more competitive. They are expected to provide the best degrees and have the best reputations, like none of their degree holders have been caught or sacked from their jobs.

Degree mill providers are rising to the competition and making more offers and intensifying their marketing efforts. Buy one get one free offer is the most popular. It is good value for money as one can get two degrees for the price of one. Then of course the pricing is very important and undercutting becomes prevalent. Another query is about course works. Some want to get their degrees at the shortest time possible and some degree mills are promising delivery within 24 hours.

And to beat the competition, some degree mills are using letters of reference from employers on how good is the quality of their degrees and how genuine they look and sound. Oops, it is not the employers that are writing such letters but the satisfied buyers of degrees from degree mills. Some wrote glorious recommendations and testimonies on how well the degrees are received and how the employers commended on the fine quality of the degrees, and how easy they could find employments especially in daft cities with daft employers and daft govts. Some of the degree mills holders even have the audacity to comment how stupid and gullible were their employers for not being able to see through the fake degrees and having a good laugh at their silliness.

Good quality degree mills are really doing roaring business and their profits are mounting, and they can’t cope with the volume of the business. Some degree mills are even thinking of expansion and getting themselves listed in the stock exchanges, with New York as the top priority. Some were quietly saying some Asian stock exchanges would be most happy to have them listed as they believe in liberalisation and minimum govt intervention. As long as they can meet the exchange’s listing requirements they will be most welcome to list. It is all about business.

Heard many IPOs are already on the pipeline in many stock exchanges. Suddenly a whole new product and business is taking off. Thanks to the positive developments and the positive attitude towards degree mills by govts, employers and degree mill seekers.

The degree mills are busily trying to get their degrees off the shelf. Make hay while the sun shines. Buy one get one free. Quality assured, satisfaction guaranteed. Damn good value for money. And some were so audacious to even say employment assured, but with small prints to say applicable only in some countries. The names of the countries were not printed on their marketing material but customers are to call a certain number and would be given a list of countries that accept degree mill degrees.

The latest, ranking agencies have started to rank degree mills to make them more marketable. Southern Pacific University is top on the list, ranked Number 1, for being the first to be accepted by employers and countries as legitimate degrees. The degree mills are most willing to pay for a good ranking to help the degree mill seekers to make an informed choice for a quality degree mill.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

There must be good reasons why even a reputable employer and also govt regulator like IDA think it is OK not to sack staff with degrees from degree mills lah.

One reason could be that if they don't take in such staff, there may not be any cheaper and also as good, if not better, than Sinkie grads from Sinkie U available to be recruited lah.

And let's be realistic. Why not with a degree mill staff, u tell me lah, if he/she can prove himself/herself to be just as capable of doing the job as a Sinkie U grad and perhaps also much cheaper, and readily avialable too?

Some more it's not as if there are lots of Sinkie grads readily available to fill up the many vacancies that need to be filled. And not filling the vacancy because there are not enough genuine U grads is also not an option.

Anonymous said...

To put it more simply and easier to understand, IDA has to accept the degree mill staff for the same reasons why the 60% has to accept PAP as govt every election.

Hope all now can understand better this degree mill saga raging on the internet.

Anonymous said...


"Graduating" From Degree Mills!

Please do not write-down degree
mills.

At least the degree mills provide
an outlet to people who want to
feel very good about their
academic achievements.

The feelings of "GRADUATING" from
degrees and PhDs programs from
these degree mills must be very
fulfilling and good.

Forgive them! Accept them!

心安里得! 心安里得! 心安里得!

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

To put it even simpler, the whole world is fucked up lah! Everything!

War mongering is not what it is if you are the top dog. Printing money without backing is alright if you are one of the top counterfeiter. When big banks are in trouble, the financial watchdogs say they are too big to fail.

All fucked up arguments cooked up to con the world.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Alamak Uncle redbean! All cons have a time frame. To be a GOOD grifter (con artist, scammer), you must have not only an entry strategy but most important is how and when you exit, taking as all your spoils fro your nefarious enterprise.

Degree mills are very cheap to set up---websites, ability to offer high quality printing, online billing and expedient delivery by courier or post. THAT'S IT. Plus effective internet marketing by affiliates. This is probably your biggest cost since you have to pay per click, and pay per "CON-version".

If you have to offer course material, it is only a one-off cost, because there is virtually ZERO cost in duplicating that material. Delivery, again, via the net.

>> "Degree mills in big trouble"

Even if that were true, I assure you the OWNERS of said enterprises have already made tons of money to achieve chiak buay liao status. I would also say that most of that money is "tax free" which is quite easy to set up on the internet.

One thing is for certain: there'll always be a "suckers" market. If a grifter (aka "entrepreneur") services that market. there'll never be a shortage of marks (aka "customers")

As long as there are STONED GULLIBLE IDIOTS in the economy who hire staff based on paper "qualifications", there'll be enterprises like online degree mills.

That's why companies like Google have their own "in-house" selection process which is a lot more rigorous than final exam week at university. Whilst a degree might get you into the selection process, you still have to PROVE TO THE BOSS that you at least have the "potential" to be a value-creating, productive employee in his business.

In house selection process, provided they are HARD, is a better metric---consider it Meritocracy at work ;-)

Fuck your degree lah! Got reality-based game?

Anonymous said...

At the end of the day it is the quality of the capability of the employee that is critical. If a FT with a fake degree can provide a better job than a Singaporean graduate from a reputable Singaporean University than what is wrong with employing the FT? FTs are cheaper, produce good and better work, fewer MC, no need for military call ups and also better attitude. If I run a company, or a government department I would choose the FT over the Singaporean. The bottom line is all that matters.

Anonymous said...

Want to be operated by a fake degree surgeon? Want to stay in a 20 storey flat built by a fake degree architect?

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Anyway, you HLP complaining motherfuckers better take notice: most of your jobs will be GONE in less than a decade. Also, in a global world, many wages will FALL.

Can you read between the lines of labour-guru Tan Juan-Chin:
A manpower-lean economy driven by productivity

1. Process work can be done by algorithms or robotics

2. Labour is now "commoditised", i.e. it is TRADEABLE. Doesn't matter whether you do the work in Saigon or Sydney, the "productivity" is going to determine who's labour is of more value---i.e. if the entrepreneur can pay $2 per hr in Saigon compared to $20 in Sydney to do the same job, guess who will get the job...and who won't?

3. "Minimum wage" legislation will make matters worse. Billions of Chinese, Indians and soon Africans will not give a flying fuck about your stupid militant union and your cuntry's "minimum wage" of $10-$20 per hour. Investment dollars will be attracted to the place where the productivity of labour delivers the best "bang for the buck" for profit-conscious investing capitalists.

Redbean, better pay attention to Juan-Chin. The man is speaking the truth.

Anonymous said...

Can we set up an LKY online "university" i.e. degree mill.
Any alien wanting to work in Singapore.
We say they have to pay $10,000 to "convert" their Alien qualification to a Singaporean qualification.
See how good I am at collecting money.
Good enough to be a PAP Minister or not?

Anonymous said...

This excellent govt can provide jobs to foreigners with fake degrees but not jobs for unemployed citizen PMEs.

Joke or no joke?

Fake Degrees Leeder said...

From the look of it, since authoritative authorities of government agencies like IDA, and MOM implicated with it, including ICA that entertains and issues New Citizenship, fake degrees from degree mills are alright.

If that it so, then Singaporeans had better go and get these fake degrees, instead of paying high price and attending local universities such as NUS, NTU, SIM, UNISIM, SMU, and local Polytechnics, etc.

Moreover, NTUC and another Authoritative Agency linked to government had also declared that Singaporean PMEs lack skills and that is why they could not get jobs in Singapore. Most of these PMEs must have either degrees or diplomas from our local universities and polytechnics. Why then continue to attend and get these USELESS Local Degrees and Diplomas.

Better go and get a few fake degrees to impress our employers and govt agencies like IDA, ICA and MOM.

I am going to get myself:

a Basic Degree in Criminal Law (with Double 1st Class Honours),

a Master of Business Administration,

a Master in Public Administration,

and a Double PhD in Politics and Social Sciences.

I checked recently, the cost of getting these degrees have shot up from $4000 to $8000. But these are from more reputable and established Degree Mills, such as South Pacific University and Bombay Online University.

There are cheaper ones, many of them. You can even bargain for discounts.

Oh, yes. I forgot to warn you guys. You have to do some "course works" so as to tell your employers you had to put in some efforts to acquire these fake degrees.

No problem at all. The so-called "course works" are essays you write about your past work experiences. If you have no work experience at all, never mind. Just tell them you are a house-wife, and they will know what to write for you. You just pay them a little bit extra. Thats all.

Fake Degrees, I love you. And thank you IDA for encouraging us to seek an alternative route out of our joblessness and unskillness.

Three cheers for IDA!

Anonymous said...

Very good idea. I am not going to be just a normal Singaporean. I want to get a lot of fake degrees to add to my name. Sure get employed in this not normal country.

Anonymous said...


It seems that lots of people are still very very unhappy about degrees obtained from degree mills.

These degrees are also degrees. RIGHT?

These people had also "graduated" from their "Universities". RIGHT?

So same same lah!

Hahaha..................

Anonymous said...

Degree from the mills or from Singapore universities do not really count. It is the productivity that matters. Why pay more to Singaporean degree holders if you can get the same amount of work out of a fake degree holder? Always remember it is the bottom line that is important. Nothing else.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

The internet is a tool of "creative destruction", to use the term accredited to Joseph Schumpeter, an economist from the esteemed linage of the Austrian School of Economics originating from Eugen Böhm von Bawerk.

Austrian economics is hated by control-freak statists and socialists, and is almost universally embraced by govt-hating, wealth-loving libertarians, of which I am happy to be one ;-)

It is early days yet of online education. Online education, with all its warts and imperfections, is going to "creatively destroy" much of what is understood to be "classical tertiary education", where you have to attend classes at a campus and pay exorbitant fees, often taking on excruciating, lingering debt, and having to relocate from your cuntry.

For e.g. there is no way to justify 50-100k for an MBA. The course material is easily replicable, and the delivery can easily done via internet. The same applies to many other degree programs. Medicine, engineering and many sciences still require field and lab work, so online delivery doesn't do so well. However stuff like maths and theoretical physics are no problem.

There are billions of people who need to be educated. However at the current prices of tertiary education, many of these people are going to miss out. Thankfully the internet has answered the problem by the creation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS), and providers like Coursera, Udemy, and the wonderful Khan Academy which has helped millions of students and is now under the patronage of Bill Gates.

Sometime back, a bunch of "out of the box" thinkers came up with the idea of using life and work experience as "proof" that one has "learnt something of value" even though one never attended formal university. Cuntrees like the UK and Aust. decided it was a good idea to credit such "experiences" as education, and count it toward the award of a formal degree.

This is not a new idea. Universities have long conferred honorary degrees on individuals who have excelled in their fields of endeavour.

Lee Kuan Yew, for instance, has honorary degrees---Doctor of Laws, Doctorate in Law--from NUS, Australian National University, Fellowship from Imperial College, Honoury doctorate in Russia, and Chinese University, HK.

So, is this the same as degree mills? No, but I think there are similarities. Can you call LKY's honorary awards "fake"?

You be the judge lah.

Anonymous said...

RB

Sincerely require your help. I'm sourcing for a 3 in 1 degree mill if there's such a thing. One for my father, one for myself and one for my son. A Phd, a Master and a Bachelor and hopefully they are in Engineering. It does not need to be in order. Kindly assist me and I would like to have the quotation ASAP. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

redbean
What about all our paper generals and admirals.
What is the value of their military qualifications?
Got any use or not when it comes to being a CEO of SMRT and NOL?
Or being a Transport Minister?

What about all the PAP doctors who work as Ministers?
Their paper qualifications got any use or not?

Anonymous said...

When it comes to the crunch can all our paper generals and admirals fight or not. Are they actually capable of commanding our troops in times of crisis or are they just for show? Did they pin all the stars and ribbons on themselves just like the degrees from the mills. Just a thought, do we have a single general or admiral who had been battle tested or even in charged of the troops in an event of crisis?

Anonymous said...

Got, got two heroes in Sentosa cable car crisis and New World hotel collapsed.

b said...

The gov bodies also outsourced lots of jobs to third parties that employed lotsa fake/unreputable/dubious degrees holders.

Virgo49 said...

Cable car rescue job elementary lah!

Someone takes half a day
To make decision, By time kena conquer by enemies Liao

As for Hotel new world , no
Hero lah. Later on we suay suay after completed full training cycle kena transferred to SCDF. They have not enough manpower. Or lack of 20/20 foresight