U.S. Authorities Confirm Doctorate is Fake

WORLDTOP STORIESFIJI NEWS

Lusia Pio

5/28/20253 min read

Employers around the world are facing a growing problem: individuals obtaining fake qualifications, including degrees and doctorates.

Former FijiFirst candidate and Justice Pacific CEO, Elaine Chandra, for the past few months, has been touting herself as a doctor, showcasing a 'doctorate' from Maryland State University.

The problem? There is no Maryland State University.

In an exclusive interview with Duavata News a United States government official confirmed to Duavata that no such university exists.

Kristin Clarkson, the Director of Communications at the Maryland Higher Education Commission, spoke to Duavata News confirming that there is no such university as the Maryland State University in the USA or indeed anywhere in the world.

We also checked University registries for every state in the USA, and reached out to the World School Summit, It is a fact that "The Maryland State University" does not exist and is not a real University.

Chandra, in a TikTok video, claimed that she was nominated by over 500 people and met the "criteria" to qualify for an honorary doctorate.

While Chandra failed to make it in Parliament with only 488 votes, she was next in line from the FijiFirst Party, if a sitting FijiFirst MP had resigned.

For the past few months, Elaine has been actively promoting the new 'Fijians First' party, collecting signatures to meet the 5,000 required for official registration.

Even the least tech-savvy people can easily tell that the website is a scam, with fake courses, fake faculty members and a badly implemented template with multiple errors.

When Duavata News reached out to Elaine Chandra for comment, she responded defensively, resorting to personal insults against our editor and journalists.

She even reported our enquiries to the police, resulting in a call from the Navua Police Station warning us to stop sending Ms Chandra Questions.

Why does this matter?

Because a person who has run for a national election has attempted to bypass the hard work required to get a doctorate and dishonestly market herself as having received an honorary doctorate.

This is an insult to those who actually put in the hard work to achieve these qualifications.

While little is known about this new party, its representatives claim to follow the principles of the former FijiFirst.

Now,with a key figure facing allegations the party once formed has a lot to answer for.

This is a significant scandal, exposing the ease with which fake credentials can be manufactured and promoted.

In fact, Duavata News found that the address provided by the fake 'Maryland State University' leads to nowhere—there is no university there.

The supposed vice chancellor has no connection to any legitimate institution, and the named faculty members either don’t exist or are not real people at all.

A fake website was created for this non-existent "Maryland State University", using a basic template filled with fabricated faculty names and stock photos.