“My question is directed at the speaker and the representative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Currently, there is a widespread advertisement on the internet and social media for services related to writing master's and doctoral dissertations, scientific articles, and essays,” said Beisengaliev.
According to him, such services are very popular and significantly impact the quality of specialist training.
“In this regard, an amendment has been introduced to the bill that prohibits the advertising and offering of such services. We support this. However, Askat Kanatovich, could you please explain how this ban is planned to be implemented in practice and who will oversee it?
And a question for the representative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education: Why isn’t the ministry taking additional control measures to improve the quality of education and prevent such occurrences?” the deputy added.
Askat Aimagambetov responded that this is indeed an important question. It was also discussed in the working group because it is crucial to have mechanisms in place to ensure effective implementation.
“Just last year, we introduced a ban on the advertising of vapes and betting companies. Previously, a ban on the advertising of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and so on was implemented. So, there are already precedents for such measures. There are mechanisms in place that allow for monitoring and controlling the enforcement of these regulations.
There are corresponding responsibilities under the Administrative Offenses Code, as well as an authorized organization within the Ministry of Culture and Information. Thus, this mechanism is operational and will be applied in this case as well. The Ministry of Culture and Information will handle this issue,” Aimagambetov replied.
The representative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education stated that indeed, this is a very serious issue. The forgery of education documents is a widespread problem.
“Higher education institutions and other universities do not forge diplomas; they are forged externally. In this regard, we have done significant work since 2021. The numbering of diplomas is now generated directly within the Unified Higher Education Platform.
This system also automatically assigns a QR code to each diploma. Therefore, today, any employer receiving a diploma can independently verify its authenticity using the QR code.
As for the diplomas issued earlier: to date, we have digitized and integrated about 90% of all diplomas issued since 1991 into the Unified Higher Education Platform. This concerns approximately 3 million diploma copies.
This work will continue, and we will strive to find the remaining data and digitize it. Additionally, QR codes and diploma numbers are synchronized with the eGov Mobile application,” the representative responded.
Thus, diploma forgery is becoming irrelevant. Nevertheless, work in this direction will continue.