Karachi: An audit of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) has revealed that 27 employees were found to have allegedly obtained jobs using fake degrees and academic certificates. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly has ordered the recovery of all salaries paid to these employees, who have already been dismissed.During a meeting chaired by Nisar Khuhro, the committee was informed that the university had 5,350 employees, but degrees of only 1,945 had been verified, leaving more than 3,400 cases pending.Dow University Director Finance Zainul Abideen Shah told the committee that degree verification had been outsourced to HRSG under a contract worth Rs7.36 million. Of the credentials examined so far, 27 were found to be fake.The employees included receptionists, clerical staff, computer operators, administrative officers, billing personnel, technicians and nursing staff. The allegedly fake qualifications included BA, BSc, BCom and MCom degrees, matriculation certificates, nursing diplomas and a master’s degree in computer science.Vice Chancellor Dr Nazli Hussain informed the committee that more than 70 per cent of the degrees held by academic doctors had been verified, while the remaining cases were being processed.The PAC also directed all public universities in Sindh to submit reports on the verification of academic and non-academic staff credentials.During the meeting, the committee was further informed that Dow University had an annual budget of Rs26 billion and generated approximately Rs25 billion annually through academic and other services, in addition to Rs4.5 billion in student fees.According to the vice chancellor, annual tuition fees stand at Rs500,000 for self-finance students and Rs60,000 for open-merit students, while international students pay between $10,000 and $18,000 annually.
