The Ministry of Education has warned employees with degrees from distance learning courses against using the academic titles conferred on them by the qualifications until the ministries of Civil Service and Higher Education officially accredit them. The education ministry has asked its staff to provide details of distance learning qualifications to its Planning and Development department for certification ahead of being sent to the Ministry of Higher Education. The Ministry of Education also told its staff not to use academic titles in correspondence to the ministry unless their degrees have been accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education. Academicians and thinkers have recently warned against certain distance learning institutes and universities doling out bogus degrees and certificates. A member of the Shoura Council has recently proposed drawing up a blacklist of “bogus universities” to help people seeking genuine academic qualifications avoid being duped into investing time and money in worthless certificates while also exposing those intending to pass themselves off as bearers of valuable knowledge. “We know the value of real academic instruction and of preparing a generation to contribute in the development process of our country,” said Ahmad Saad Aal Mufrih, a member of the Shoura's Education Committee. “Acquiring these degrees is a form of theft.” Another Shoura member, Khidr Al-Qurashi, described the “danger” of bogus institutions and certificates as “deadlier than swine flu”, and as enabling unqualified individuals to rise to “sensitive positions” in government. The Board of Senior Ulema has also forbidden their acquisition and Sheikh Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh, the Kingdom's Grand Mufti, along with other notable scholars, has issued fatwas in this regard.
