Four UJ employees referred to judiciary for faking English certificates

AMMAN — The Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (IACC) has referred three tutors and an employee from the University of Jordan (UJ) to the judiciary on charges of TOEFL certificates’ forgery, an official said on Sunday. 

The case started three months ago, when the IACC cadres started following up on a tip that a teacher at UJ had distributed fraudulent language certificates. “After investigation, an employee at the university was found to be involved by mediating between teachers and brokers to counterfeit certificates, in exchange for money,” the official, who requested anonymity, told The Jordan Times.

TOEFL, or Test of English as a Foreign Language, evaluates the English proficiency of people whose native language is not English.  

The commission therefore decided to refer the case to the judiciary for further investigation, the source noted. 

UJ President Azmi Mahaftha told The Jordan Times that he is only aware of one case of fraudulent language test certificate at the university’s Aqaba branch, stressing that the teacher acquired his academic degrees from neighbouring Arab countries and "does not master English". 

”Unlike what was circulated in the media, I did not refer the teacher to IACC; the commission requested the certificates of all teachers who were employed over the last two years,” Mahaftha noted.

The employee will face charges of receiving a bribe or utilising his post for personal gains and interests, the source noted. 

The teachers concerned in the case have few years of teaching experience and, in an attempt to be promoted to the rank of assistant professor, they provided the university with false language test certificates as required for promotion, the source said. 

”Fraud is a crime and that exists not only in universities, and this case is not the first of its kind in UJ’s history,” Mahaftha added, noting that the university has dealt with cases where professors were holding false academic degrees in the past.