A university degree is supposed to prove that someone has studied, researched and earned a place in the professional world. In Sri Lanka, that meaning is collapsing. The same culture that sees mothers doing children’s schoolwork has now reached the highest levels of education. The country’s university degrees are being treated like products in a shop, not achievements of study.
The five-year scholarship system is already a farce, where the mother does everything and the child only sits the exam. This is now mirrored in the university system. I saw it with my own eyes near a university: a sign in a photocopy shop reading, “Theses for degrees will be prepared and bound.” When the shop owner saw me photographing it, he quickly took it down. That reaction alone proves he knows the business is illegal.
A major newspaper editor once told a story about a university lecturer who was rushing to complete a thesis at home. When asked why she was writing it, she said she was preparing a doctoral thesis for a government minister. The minister had called repeatedly and given her only two days to finish. She explained that once she handed over the thesis, the minister would receive the doctorate, and she would receive her payment immediately. This is not an isolated incident but a common practice now, where academic titles are sold rather than earned.
There are even allegations that a former head of state’s son passed the bar exam using a computer, meaning fraud is not limited to theses or degrees. It has spread into professional qualifications too. When you walk into university libraries, you can see shelves of theses that look legitimate but are filled with weak and recycled content. Many theses are copied, slightly altered, and submitted to different universities until one finally accepts them. The system allows this because no one is checking properly.
A thesis submitted for a PhD at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura was published as a book in 2013, and a reader’s criticism of it explains the problem clearly. The thesis simply recorded the history of newspapers between 1816 and 1916, without any real analysis or new research. The critic noted that the book contained only facts that had already been published elsewhere and did not reference any of those sources in the bibliography. It offered no analysis of how newspapers influenced society, how language changed, or how journalism evolved. The work was described as something a basic library student could write, yet it earned a PhD.
This is the reality across the university system. Students choose a title, submit a thesis, and rarely face any questions. Some theses are accepted without being read properly. Only when the thesis goes to the printer does society realise it is fake. A thesis is submitted to one university, slightly changed, and sent to another. This continues until the candidate receives a genuine degree certificate from a government university. No one seems willing to stop it.
This problem has also spread overseas. Sri Lankans studying abroad on educational visas often buy theses from these “thesis shops” to meet university requirements while working in other jobs to survive. These theses are sold for Rs. 80,000 to Rs. 100,000, turning academic achievement into a business.
The result is a growing number of people who have no real knowledge of their field being labelled as “educated.” The university system is producing certificates, not graduates. The country is now full of people who look qualified on paper but cannot prove it in reality. That is the real tragedy.
