Dhaka University (DU) authorities have issued a statement denying allegations circulating on social media that the university delayed certificate verification for former students seeking higher education abroad, calling the claims ‘misleading and false’ attempts to damage the institution's reputation.
The university’s public relations director, Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, informed through a press release.
The controversy emerged after reports on social media and several media outlets suggested DU demanded payment for verifying certificates of former students applying to Swedish universities.
However, the university clarified that foreign universities do not contact DU directly for verification but use third-party intermediary organisations.
According to the university statement, students applying for higher education in Europe, America and other regions receive emails from their chosen foreign universities requesting certificate verification through intermediaries, including WES, First Advantage, Qualification Cheque, Data Flow, AMS India and UHR.
Students then apply to their preferred intermediary organisation, which subsequently emails DU with a 50-dollar fee for verification. The fee system was established by DU's Syndicate decision dated November 22, 2015, with the fee paid by intermediary organisations, not universities.
In the disputed case, intermediary organisation UHR emailed DU on March 4 this year requesting verification for the student discussed on Facebook. However, UHR did not pay the required fee according to university rules. The statement noted that when intermediaries fail to pay, students can deposit the fee directly at Sonali Bank's DU branch, after which verification proceeds normally.
"Since no fee was received from any party, the return email requested the verification fee from the intermediary organisation. The relevant department did not delay or neglect its responsibilities," the statement read, adding that all fee payment procedures are available on the university website.
The university also dismissed another student's facebook claim that DU failed to respond to an email from Bologna University, calling it ‘false and baseless’ as no such email was received.
"The university authorities believe that DU's reputation and image have been damaged through misleading and false information presented by the concerned student on social media," the statement said, requesting all parties to refrain from such ‘false and intentional propaganda’.
NRE/AM
