The New Gold Diggers of Kenya
Last month, an interesting report appeared in the press. It was on the subject of educated and jobless Kenyans discovering a new goldmine in her majesty’s now is disUnited Kingdom.
According to the story, there is a crop of Kenyans who have discovered that many students in the UK cannot or do not want to bother writing term papers and, of all wonders, master’s theses and even doctoral dissertations. In some ways, I can sympathise with those UK guys for several reasons.
One, writing a dissertation, especially at the PhD level, is a formidable task. First, you have to have a unique dissertation proposal. This means that you have to get a topic that has NOT been researched on by another person anywhere in the world. This is the hardest part of academic scholarship.
In the bad old days before Google, this meant literally ploughing through mountains of research sources in your chosen field and being able to find that little bit that no one else had discovered. It was a nightmare as any genuine PhD holder will tell you. And yet, that was the only way to really know your area of specialisation.
After that, you had to present it to a select dissertation committee composed of senior scholars (professors who have doctorates themselves). As it turned out, writing your proposal and defending it to that horrible group of academic sadists was a nightmare even for the brightest students. Truth be told, up to one half of all doctoral students who reach this stage simply give up after realizing that it was an exercise in futility. Of the remaining half, having to face that committee, was an even worse nightmare as the pass rate was another 50%.
Which meant that, at best, only a quarter of an entering class of PhD students ever made it to a level where they could write and present their final dissertation findings. A truly heartbreaking task as anyone who went through that phase can tell you. It was, for some of us, equivalent to a black being admitted to an all-white members’ club.
Big Deal?
This is why it is unthinkable that anyone, leave alone a crazy third world neophyte, can write a thesis or dissertation for anyone especially from the UK. And for the kind of money being offered - from £2,000 - £5,000. And it is not just in the UK - many developed countries have similar problems.
However, if what was being reported was true, then we have a problem worse than presenting fake academic certificates so you can get elected governor or presenting fake title deeds to get a loan from a bank.
This brings us to the heart of the matter. And it is this: What are the implications for degree granting universities and, more, employers of graduates in general.
Consequences and Possible Solutions
The first dreadful consequence is that nearly all degrees from most universities will require to be subjected to a verification process. Even the top ones (like the “ivy league” ones in the US especially now that even upper income college applicants are buying fake scores). This can be an expensive, arduous and time-consuming task and there is no guarantee that it will catch all the degree thieves.
This task may have to be given to a national degree verification centre which will end up costing a lot of money and is, in economic jargon, a waste of national resources. It is equivalent to getting a certificate of good conduct as we know how devious the fake seekers are.
So what are the alternatives? I have two. The first involves subjecting every potential employee whether at university or elsewhere to an independent qualification evaluation by organisations such as multiple human resource bureaus. Multiple because you cannot trust any one of them entirely - even one selected competitively as many can be compromised.
In this case, the HR department of the organisation employing such people must, like Caesar’s wife, be “beyond reproach” in terms of integrity and thoroughness coupled with an adequate level of sanctions if anyone is found to have been compromised.
As for university graduate admissions, the solution is easier but still devastating. Forget the use of the academic certificates or transcripts and administer the equivalent of what in the US are known as GMAT and TOEFFL tests that are administered online and properly supervised so as to catch the occasional cheat and scoundrel.
And if all these efforts fail, submit every applicant to a new screening tool known as VIQT, a computer-based Virtual Integrity Quotient Test. Virtual because it is done using the human face and other more intrusive tests that the giver has control over. Controversial and quite accurate but, of course, not fool-proof.
Like its equivalent the IQ (Intelligence Quotient) test, it may not be infallible, but it will expeditiously ferret out the unsophisticated cheats very early in the selection process. And at a fraction of the cost of the other tools mentioned above.
Another Way
While the above may be the decent way to do things, one may ask if it is indeed necessary. The easiest way is to make any form of such cheating so expensive that anyone caught will have to face massive penalties. Like happened to the German car makers who might be fined up to $60 billion for breaking carbon emission laws.
Or, as in the recent case of a local governor caught in a corruption scandal, setting the bail and fine terms so high that it will deter other potential perpetrators. In the case of university and similar institutions, it will mean cancelling the certificates and fining anyone caught irrespective of rank or social status.
But, we have a small problem. Our legal system is currently so compromised that they cannot be entrusted with any form of resolution of this type of problem. Maybe that is where we should start - clean up the entire legal system.
Failing which, we can invite the Japanese to come and teach us their pragmatic philosophy of “harakiri” - killing oneself to protect family honour. It does wonders in Japan and should elsewhere. Even in Kenya.
In the meantime, remember this: When all is said and done, it is all about quality of education - from the mother’s lap to early school - end of primary school. That is where core values are created, good or bad.
And it is doable - if interested, you can read Chapter 9 of “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell (“Marita’s Bargain: All My Friends Are Now From KIPP”). It is about a school in the US that has tried a unique education system in a poor area of New York with excellent results.
JH Kimura
Nairobi,
9th April 2019