-Photo in Italian media of the fake university; 2nd from the left is Rector Salvatore Messina
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 15:30
-
Heleen D’Haens
Italy correspondent
-
Heleen D’Haens
Italy correspondent
They paid registration fees, attended online lectures by leading doctors and interned in real hospitals. Yet about a hundred Italian students discovered that their medical or nursing degrees are invalid. Another 150 students have to stop their studies.
The university where these students were enrolled, located in Palermo, Sicily, was presented as the Italian branch of Goražde University in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The institution offered online lectures and internships, but appears not to be registered as an educational institution in Italy. In fact, even the mother university in Bosnia is not licensed.
A diploma from the institution, for which students paid 6,500 to 20,000 euros per year in tuition, is therefore worthless.
Foreign account numbers
The fraud was discovered by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Journalists were approached by the mothers of some students. Their children may have graduated, but were not allowed to register with the medical federation. The Italian Ministry of Universities and Research then announced that it concerns educational fraud.
“A false diploma factory” calls La Repubblica the Sicilian fake university. The newspaper revealed that students did not sign an agreement with the university, but with a Swiss foundation. According to the statutes, it is concerned with integrating Croatia into the EU, and therefore not with education. The foreign account numbers to which students had to transfer their tuition fees also changed regularly.
More than a hundred leading doctors, including the president of the Palermo Doctors’ Federation, had recorded guest lectures for the ‘university’. It is unclear how many of them knew that the institution was not registered at all. The hospitals where students did internships and took practical exams said they were unaware.
Professional scammer
After several victims were reported, the justice department in Palermo started an investigation. Three people have been arrested, including Salvatore Messina, who presented himself as rector of the institute, and his son Dario. They are suspected of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.
ResearchGateSalvatore Messina (photo taken from an online profile)
Salvatore Messina is no stranger to the Italian justice system. He was arrested in 2004 after embezzling millions in European money. The region of Sicily had awarded that money in exchange for courses that Messina never taught. He was sentenced at first instance to eight years in prison. That sentence was later waived because the case had expired.
Despite his past, Messina, now 70, acted shamelessly this time, according to witnesses. He targeted disappointed students who had been rejected by other universities. He agreed with the Bar Association in Palermo that their children would receive a discount on their tuition fees. He also paid students and teachers to recruit new students from friends and family for his fake university.
Website down
Victims in the case have so far only testified anonymously in Italian media out of shame. “During a three-hour online meeting, the rector reassured us that the matter would be resolved,” the mother of a student told La Repubblica.
However, it doesn’t look like that: the website of the fake university is now down. Students end up on a page that advises them to email Messina’s secretariat with questions.
Not the only fake university
Many more students may be victims of this form of fraud. Following this news, the Italian Ministry of Universities conducted an investigation, which showed that at least six other educational institutions offer university courses without a license. It is not clear how many students are registered there.
Minister responsible Anna Maria Bernini said in the Italian parliament that she does not have the power to close down these organizations. However, she has informed the Public Prosecution Service, in the hope that an investigation will also be opened into these fake universities.
2024-03-17 14:30:01
#Italian #university #turns #fake #medical #degrees #worthless
