IDA Probes Claim About Employee's 'Fake' MBA

[Stocker]

21/04/2015 By FENG ZENGKUN

The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) is investigating a claim that one of its employees possesses a fake master's degree.

In a Facebook note yesterday, IDA said it is continuing to look into the case of Nisha Padmanabhan, who joined the agency last year with a master's degree from Southern Pacific University, which is based online.

The university has been alleged to be a "degree mill" - an institution selling non-accredited educational credentials or diplomas for a fee - and was closed in the United States by a court order. It is now apparently operating in Malaysia.

IDA has been criticised online, after a netizen accused it earlier this month of hiring Ms Padmanabhan despite her alleged phoney qualification.

Last week, IDA responded on its Facebook page by saying that Ms Padmanabhan, a Singapore citizen, had received a bachelor's degree from "a reputable university".

According to her LinkedIn page, she has a bachelor's in electronics and telecommunication from the University of Mumbai in India, and worked for nearly 14 years in various firms before joining IDA.

"She was recruited because of this bachelor's degree, extensive past work experience and good track record," IDA said.

"Nisha pursued an MBA (the master's degree) out of personal interest, and it was not a relevant certificate for her position in IDA, though she was open about the fact that she had obtained it."

In fact, 93 per cent of IDA staff hired at the level of applications consultant were hired because of their bachelor's degree.

The criticism against IDA continued, however, with several people hijacking its Facebook posts on other subjects to comment on Ms Padmanabhan's hiring and the agency's handling of the case.

In its latest Facebook post on the matter yesterday, IDA said: "We understand your sentiments and concerns, and we are continuing to look into the matter."

It also asked people who have comments to share them on the post, or e-mail them to info@ida.gov.sg

It added that it would moderate comments more actively on the rest of its Facebook posts, so that the discussion would remain civil and constructive. It said it does not generally remove comments, but reserves the right to remove those that contain vulgarities, are personal attacks against individuals or are deemed inappropriate.

zengkun@sph.com.sg

[CityFarmer]

There is great difference between "deliberately" and "technically".

Deliberately means she knew it is fake and in fact paid for it, and still put into the resume, because it significantly improved the chance of recruitment. It is an issue of integrity, which should be no room for compromises.

Technically means she isn't aware or didn't pay for it, but earned it. Unfortunately the school was closed. It is an issue of technical fault. There are many options available to solve it.

Base on her experience, I really doubt it is an integrity issue, and likely a technical one. Let's see the update from IDA after investigation.

[brattzz]

wait a minute, since when IDA is about integrity?

There are plenty of Degrees Mills around, competent employers has to do their own due diligent actually...

http://therealsingapore.com/content/spor...bm-holders
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/18-chinese-nat...grees.html

Round Tipping like City Harvest Case too!
"The workers were each paid a monthly salary of S$2,650 which was transferred into their bank accounts, but after payday, they each had to return around S$1,600 to a man sent by their employer. They claimed not to have known why there were asked to do that."

[cfa]

Will they be jailed liked what Singaporeans faced ?

http://www.allsingaporestuff.com/article...stimonials

34 year-old Yeo Cheng San was desperate for a job after his hair salon folded in 2004. Without anywhere to go, he decided to buy fake degrees in human resource management from the Florida International University over the Internet.

He bought a Bachelor's degree, a Master's degree and a Post Graduate Diploma, which cost him over $8,000. He later used these fake degrees to secure jobs with 3 companies, where he used to earnbetween $9,000 and $12,800 a month.

Yeo, who actually only has an O levels qualification, was appointed human resource director at the Eminent Group. He then joined as a human resource manager at Innovalues before finally applying for a human resource and administrative manager position at Gain City Best-Electric. He forged a testimonial from Eminent Group's CEO when he applied for a job with the last company, Gain City.

For his crime, Yeo was jailed for a year.

[CityFarmer]

I have removed a post, which hinting discrimination, without any supporting fact(s).

Regards
Moderator

[Stocker]

Was this FT with fake PHD taught in NUS for few years , also published a few papers charged in court ?

Ex-NUS professor in resume fraud scandal in US
By Melissa Sim Us Correspondent In Washington

A former assistant professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) who landed a prestigious position at a United States university is now at the centre of a sensational fraud investigation. According to his resume, Mr Anoop Shankar, 39, has a doctorate in epidemiology, graduated from India's top medical school when he was 21, was a member of the prestigious Royal College of Physicians and had been awarded a "genius" visa to America. But US media outlets now report that these credentials began to unravel after West Virginia University (WVU) handpicked him in 2012 for the first endowed position in a new School of Public Health. In that position, he would have controlled millions of dollars in federal funding and research grants. What was to have been a routine pre-appointment review revealed that Mr Shankar did not have a doctorate degree, and did not graduate from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. What he does have is a master's degree in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina. The case, among the most serious of its kind, has now also sparked scrutiny into the larger issue of fraud that goes unchecked at some institutes of higher education. Associate Professor Koh Woon Puay of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School said she was taken aback by the allegations as she had not found any reason to question his credentials. "Personally, I did not have any reason to suspect at that time that he was not trained in epidemiology or statistics to carry out his research," said Prof Koh, who stood by the three papers they had worked on together. The alleged lies were exposed by Dr Ian Rockett, who is chair of the promotion and tenure committee at the School of Public Health at WVU and a tenured professor in the Department of Epidemiology. But even though Mr Shankar was dismissed by the university in 2012, the school did not address the case publicly. He was even able to find employment as an associate professor of family medicine at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond. Reports say he even published three papers in the last year, including one in the prestigious Journal Of The American Medical Association. Mr Shankar has since quietly parted ways with VCU as well, and his current whereabouts are unclear. The university said in a statement: "Shankar was employed by VCU and is no longer employed here." WVU officials also told NBC News that it would make "a complete and full public statement" when "all the facts are clear and known", though they were unable to provide a timeline. NUS confirmed that Mr Shankar was an assistant professor with the Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine at NUS' Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine from 2005 to 2008, but did not provide further comment.

simlinoi@sph.com.sg

[egghead]

Was this FT with fake PHD taught in NUS for few years , also published a few papers charged in court ?

Was he caught during his time in Singapore? If not, how to charge?

[Stocker]

Was this FT with fake PHD taught in NUS for few years , also published a few papers charged in court ?

Was he caught during his time in Singapore? If not, how to charge?

Very true , NUS employed him with fake Phd for years , but could only be detected and exposed in US .

[CityFarmer]

Was this FT with fake PHD taught in NUS for few years , also published a few papers charged in court ?

Was he caught during his time in Singapore? If not, how to charge?

Very true , NUS employed him with fake Phd for years , but could only be detected and exposed in US .

So it is more of a negligence, rather than a discrimination hinted. Am I right?