MQA limits attestation of documents issued by authority to itself only

Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) has amended regulations to limit attestation of documents issued by the authority to the authority itself.

Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in the submission of fraudulent educational certificates.

According to MQA, the purpose of the new regulation is to establish the authority’s policy on attesting various documents issued by the authority, as well as to outline the procedures for this process.

Another purpose of the regulation cited by MQA is to establish a system where third parties can easily verify the authenticity of copy of documents issued by MQA.

Documents attested by MQA include copies of certificates being validated, assessment reports, recognition letters for intended programs, recognition letters for certificates awarded by foreign institutions, and other official documents issued by the MQA.

MQA will levy a fee to attest documents issued by authority. In this regard, an MVR 10 per page fee will be charged to attest copies of certificates being validated, assessment reports, recognition letters for intended programs. Meanwhile, MVR 20 per page will be charged to attest copies of recognition letters for certificates awarded by foreign institutions.

The regulation on attestation of MQA-issued documents comes after the Authority recently issued warnings to three centers for issuing certificates to graduates without conducting a program audit.