Study links Bangladeshi qualifications to fake claims in UK postgraduate admissions

Only Nigeria and Ghana rank ahead of Bangladesh in the number of purported qualifications found to be falsified

A man walks in front of the buildings of Oxford University, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Oxford, Britain, October 6, 2020. REUTERS

Academic qualifications purportedly from Bangladesh are among the five most frequently falsified in postgraduate applications to UK universities last year, with nearly 5 percent of international offers involving false claims, the Financial Times reported.

Certification company Qualification Check's analysis of about 55,000 offers made by 45 UK higher education institutions during the 2024-25 admissions cycle found that many applicants did not hold the grades or degrees they had declared.

It said many of the UK's 150 universities still do not carry out thorough checks to verify applicants' qualifications, despite advances in artificial intelligence making forged certificates and academic records easier to produce.

The findings come as the UK government tightens immigration rules and raises compliance standards for universities sponsoring international student visas, Financial Times said.

Qualification Check Chief Executive Ed Hall said universities should verify qualifications directly with the institutions applicants claim to have attended, warning that digital documents can now be altered with ease using AI tools.

According to the Financial Times, applicants most frequently submitted false qualifications purportedly from institutions in Nigeria, followed by Ghana, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Canada.

It said around two-fifths of those with false claims submitted forged supporting documents, while others either overstated their grades or failed to provide academic records.

Business and management courses accounted for the largest share of applications involving fraudulent qualifications.

Hall said universities often remained unaware of the deception, with some applicants directing admissions teams to fake university websites or QR codes designed to resemble official sources.

In a small number of cases, insiders at educational institutions allegedly helped verify false academic records.

The Financial Times noted that the data relate to the institutions from which applicants claimed qualifications, rather than the applicants' nationality or country of origin.

Responding to the findings, Universities UK said the vast majority of international students submit genuine applications and remain an important part of the higher education sector.

It added that universities invest significant resources to meet visa and immigration compliance requirements.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) said it identified 1,375 suspicious applications among more than 151,000 non-UK domiciled undergraduate applicants in 2024.

That figure fell to 435 out of more than 156,000 applicants in 2025.