Fake IT and Foreign Language certificates are rampant

(Baonghean) - Currently, many agencies, especially state agencies, when organizing recruitment, in addition to the requirement of official professional qualifications, also require certificates of IT and foreign language proficiency. To solve work and avoid exams, many people have chosen to... buy certificates. July and August are the recruitment season, and are also considered the "season" for those who fake IT and foreign language certificates...

Two real (top) and fake (bottom) certificate samples.

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Buying certificates is as easy as… buying vegetables.

After graduating from the University of Construction in 2010, H.D.T (born in 1986, residing in Nghi Duc commune, Vinh city) was accepted to work at a bridge and road construction company headquartered in Vinh city. At the end of 2013, T. wanted to change his working environment, so he applied to the Investment and Construction Project Management Board of H. district. The job application required an IT certificate and a Foreign Language certificate, while T.'s English level was not much better than that of an elementary school student. However, less than a week after starting to apply, T. had in hand an IT certificate and an English certificate at level B, both of which were excellent. Both certificates were issued by Vatec IT and Foreign Language Center. T bragged: “I don’t have time to study and take the exam to get a certificate, bro. But with my “talent”, even if I really study and take the exam, I still won’t pass. So I went to some IT and Foreign Language centers, spent a few hundred thousand and got a certificate right away. Nowadays, buying these types of certificates is as easy as buying vegetables!”

From T's story, we learned the truth about the current buying and selling of IT and Foreign Language certificates. In the role of someone who needs to "buy" a certificate, we went to the D. IT - Foreign Language Center on Nguyen Duy Trinh Street (Vinh City), near Vinh University of Technical Education. We were greeted by two employees, one male and one female. When I asked about taking an English course to get a B-level foreign language certificate, the male employee named Hung said: "Currently, we don't have a class here!". When I showed concern, saying that I urgently needed an English certificate to add to my job application that had to be submitted next week, Hung said without hesitation: "If you want to get a certificate without studying, we will meet your needs. The procedure is very simple, you just need to submit 2 3x4 photos, a photocopy of your ID card and a fee of 150,000 VND, and you will receive the certificate a week later." I asked if I needed an IT certificate, Hung said that the price of an IT certificate is cheaper, only 70 thousand VND. Seeing me hesitate, Hung said firmly: "Don't worry, my certificate here is issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, you can use it to apply for a job anywhere!"

Using the excuse that I didn’t have the photo yet, I made an appointment with Hung to come back in the afternoon and went to another center, the BKV Information Technology - Foreign Language Training Center on Nguyen Duc Canh Street. Receiving me, a female employee of the center said that this center organizes training programs in English, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean..., training in Applied Information Technology programs at levels A, B, C, Office Information Technology, electronic presentation, programming languages... At the same time, it issues certificates issued by the Ministry of Education and Training on Foreign Languages ​​and Applied Information Technology. When I asked about wanting to “quickly obtain” an English certificate, this employee said that if I wanted to do that, I should “buy it”, but I had to take the test to keep my records, avoiding inspection by the authorities. Following the advice, we decided to take the test to get an English certificate at level B. Under the guidance of the center’s staff, in less than 10 minutes, my test was completed. After that, I was told by this staff to bring my photo, ID card and 150,000 VND to the center and come back a week later to get the certificate.

Strengthen inspection and handling

Discussing this issue with the Department of Continuing Education (Department of Education and Training), Mr. Nguyen Duy Cao - Deputy Head of the Department said: "Currently, in the province, there are 28 centers qualified to issue IT - Foreign Language certificates managed by the Department of Education and Training, including 21 Continuing Education Centers (2 provincial centers, 19 district centers) and 6 other IT - Foreign Language centers, namely Sara IT - Foreign Language Center, Hong Lam IT - Foreign Language Center, Phuong Dong IT - Foreign Language Center, IT - Foreign Language Center of the Political School, IT - Foreign Language Center of Vinh Vocational College of Economics and Technology, Vatec IT - Foreign Language Center and VTC IT - Foreign Language Center. In addition to these 28 centers, there are also a number of centers under universities and colleges in the province, with the function of issuing IT and Foreign Language certificates, but according to regulations, they are managed by universities and colleges, not under the Department of Education and Training. create".

Thus, the two centers that we visited were not qualified to issue IT and Foreign Language certificates. After reviewing the two certificates of Mr. T that we mentioned above, Mr. Cao confirmed that these were fake certificates. Mr. Cao also said that there is currently only one form of the Foreign Language and IT certificate templates issued by the Ministry of Education and Training. The process for issuing a certificate from the Ministry is very strict: Training institutions, after completing the training program for students, request the Department to organize the exams, then the Department will establish a council and conduct the exam. Then, based on the number of students who meet the standards to pass the exam, the Department of Education and Training will buy the template from the Ministry and the Department will sign the certificate, then that is the qualified certificate.

According to Mr. Cao, the current situation of buying and selling certificates stems from the fact that buyers and employers who request certificates cannot distinguish between real and fake certificates. For a long time, employers often require IT and Foreign Language certificates in job applications, but many employers do not care about the actual IT and Foreign Language proficiency of the candidates. Therefore, the use of "bought and sold" certificates only helps workers "beautify" their profiles and is a formality. In the coming time, the Department will coordinate with the police to increase inspections of IT and Foreign Language training facilities to detect and handle the situation of printing fake certificates.

Article and photos:Minh Quan