Paraguay's National Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (ANEAES) has sent prosecutors a technical report on university degrees registered between 2023 and 2026, after finding that a large share were issued by programmes without valid accreditation at the time of registration.

According to figures reported by La Nación, the agency examined 138,256 undergraduate degrees and found that 71,093 came from programmes that did not hold valid accreditation when the degree was registered. Other Paraguayan outlets reported the same totals in rounded form, at more than 138,000 degrees analysed and more than 70,000 flagged.

What the report found

ANEAES executive director Adriana Pesoa said in radio and television interviews that the review was carried out with the Ministry of Education and Science and the National Council of Higher Education, cross-checking their databases. Diario HOY reported that about 5,000 of the flagged degrees are in medicine, with law and engineering programmes also affected.

Paraguayan law makes accreditation mandatory for certain programmes, including medicine, and for courses that could put health, life or property at risk. La Nación reported that the agency described patterns such as programmes skipping accreditation calls for years, continuing to award degrees after accreditation expired or was denied, or issuing degrees from offerings listed as inactive in the official catalogue.

The agency has not named the universities involved. La Nación reported that the institutions issuing the most degrees have been identified but not made public.

Not a finding of forgery

ANEAES has been explicit that the report does not classify the degrees as false. Pesoa said the degrees were issued by legally authorised universities but through programmes that "did not pass through the legal processes." The agency's complaint asks the Public Prosecutor's Office to check degrees, transcripts and internship certificates linked to the flagged programmes, and prosecutors will decide whether any individual document is irregular. No person has been accused.

For now, affected graduates keep the formal validity of their degrees, HOY reported. Pesoa suggested that the Ministry of Public Health, which licenses health professionals, consider a competency examination for recent health graduates. La Tribuna reported that a new Education Ministry resolution makes accreditation a precondition for registering degrees, and HOY said a fresh call for programmes to seek accreditation opens in January 2027. La Nación reported the review may be extended to earlier years.

Checking a foreign qualification

The case shows that a genuine degree from an authorised university can still have a regulatory gap behind it. Employers and licensing bodies assessing qualifications from any country can ask whether the specific programme, not only the institution, was accredited on the date the degree was awarded, and confirm this with the national accreditation agency or the issuing university's registrar. Paraguay's agency publishes a searchable list of accredited programmes on its website.

Sources

This News Desk report summarises information published by the sources above, written in our own words. Persons named in criminal matters are accused, not convicted, unless a court has ruled otherwise. To report an error, use our contact page.

ParaguayAccreditationHigher education regulationMedical degreesDegree verification

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