In the past few years, prominent figures have made headlines for having lied about their qualifications.
Faking their qualifications might have had its perks for these individuals but for former KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Vincent Mdunge things went pear-shaped when it had been found that he had lied about his matric qualification.
Following his incident, Mdunge served two years in prison and a further year on parole, however, he then obtained his matric qualification during this time.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has now introduced new technology to weed out scammers and to also allow employers to verify the information on a degree certificate.
In an interview, UJ senior director of academic administration, Tinus van Zyl further said:
When people create false documentation or change information on their certificates, it brings the integrity of degrees awarded into question.
The university has started using Blockchain Technology, pointing out that this move will protect the integrity of certificates issued by the university.
It has been reported that UJ certificates will now come with a scannable QR code that can be used to prove that the information on it is accurate.
The QR code will also make sure that the information was not altered after the certificate was issued.
The university has also confirmed that the QR codes can be scanned with a standard smartphone and will open up a webpage with all the information of the certificate.
While this will come in handy in spotting fake UJ qualifications, the youth in the labour force should also be on the lookout for fake job posts.
