KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — The Higher Education Ministry said today it is setting up a database for the public to verify individuals’ doctorates.

Deputy Minister of Higher Education Datuk Dr Mary Yap Kain Ching said the ministry will also be collaborating with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to check on fake certificates published online.

"We are working on a database for the list of PhD holders from public higher education institutes. It is to let the public verify a person's PhD.

"We are also working together with the MCMC to see if fake doctorate holders post on websites," she said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

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The database would comprise the list of PhD holders, the university they obtained their degrees from, field of study, topic of thesis and their year of graduation, Yap explained.

Cases of individuals with fake doctorates involved in scams have been rampant over the past few months, with the emergence of academics trying to make a quick buck with motivational courses.

Yap also said that the ministry would be engaging the police to track down these frauds and expose them to better educate the public on this matter.

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"We will be working together with the police in case if any misuse of the status has led to losses for any parties and it also gives awareness to the public to always be careful with the certificate status," she added.

Yap also stressed that a doctorate is considered fake if any party gets it in less than 10 months.