CAIRO/KUWAIT: Egypt's ministry of higher education said yesterday that none of the country's schools have issued fake college degrees to Kuwaiti students, underlining its "concern" over a case where fraudulent certificated were awarded to dozens of Kuwaitis.

"Egyptian universities are not involved in this scandal and we assure Kuwaiti authorities that the degrees in question are fake," the ministry said in a statement. Egyptian schools have recently employed cutting-edge technology to ensure that the degree certification process is highly resistant to fraud, the statement emphasized. It added that the Egyptian education body is willing to cooperate with Kuwaiti authorities and join investigations, if need be, in order to get to the bottom of this sensitive matter.

The statement revealed that Egyptian colleges have established a close rapport with foreign embassies in the country, keeping them updated on the academic progress of their students. Kuwait's education ministry had recently uncovered some 40 fake college certificates issued in an unnamed Arab country and investigations into the case remain ongoing.

Meanwhile, Head of the Private Sector Union Mansour Al-Mutairi said the Cabinet has a serious stance towards the fake degrees issues, and there is an insistence to tackle corruption due to its negative effects on the society and in defense of those with authentic degrees who spent their lives to get these academic qualifications. It said that the measures taken by the Cabinet were necessary to stop these people from getting leading posts without deserving them, and demanded violators be considered criminals and sent to court. In the meantime, Kuwait Engineering Society lauded the Cabinet's decision to take necessary legal measures against those proven to forge certificates. President Faisal Al-Atal said the Cabinet's strict measures to examine degrees of all state employees is a step on the road of fighting all forms of corruption.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi and Agencies