The Civil Court has ruled that the Maldives Qualifications Authority (MQA) cannot be ordered to recognise a PhD certificate; however, the verdict stated that the authority must incur the responsibility for any damages caused to the students.
A few local students enrolled at a Sri Lankan college that offered a PhD programme awarded by a Philippine college after the MQA announced in 2016 that it would be accepted.
However, in January 2018, the MQA decided to stop recognising the course, but said that the certificates of those who were studying at the time would still be accepted. In 2021, the MQA rejected the offer to validate the certificate after graduation.
The case was filed by three former students of this course. According to the Civil Court, the MQA cannot be ordered to recognise their PhDs as it already has standards for checking the quality of qualifications attained from overseas higher education programs.
However, since the MQA had informed the students in 2016 that it would accept the course, the court ruled that the MQA will be liable for expenses incurred by the students until January 2018.
The MQA announced that it would accept the course in 2016 without considering or checking the standard of the course, and it found out later that the course was not recognised by the Philippine government either.
The case sought damages of MVR 23 million for one individual and MVR 16 million each for the other two; however the court ruled that the damages could not be recovered as they were not proven.
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