The National Agency for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Aneaes) said during Hernán Rivas’s trial that the law degree from Universidad Sudamericana was not registered with the National Council of Higher Education (Cones) or accredited, while witnesses described aspects of the former senator’s education and prosecutors questioned the dates on academic documents.
Consejo Nacional de Educación Superior
Pytagua coverage mentioning Consejo Nacional de Educación Superior.
Paraguay recorded one of the weakest Latin American performances in PISA 2025, with declines in reading, science and mathematics, while Hermenegildo Cohene Velázquez was appointed to chair the National Council of Higher Education, replacing Luis Fernando Ramírez.
Paraguay’s Ministry of the Interior projects increasing the National Police force to 42,611 officers by December 2026, with 5,000 new graduates, stronger training and internal controls, while Minister Enrique Riera acknowledges that the expansion will not eliminate the sense of insecurity.
Paraguay’s Public Prosecutor’s Office asked the courts to annul 144 demonstrably forged teaching diplomas and subsequently cancel the professional registrations linked to them. The investigation covers 525 suspicious documents and could hold beneficiaries, institutions and public officials involved accountable.
Paraguay’s Ministry of Education and Sciences restricted the registration of diplomas without accreditation and launched RUE-ES as the trial of Hernán Rivas revealed that his law degree was registered in six minutes after an alleged “higher-up order,” despite irregularities—an allegation denied by former minister Eduardo Petta.
Paraguay's Ministry of Education is creating a blockchain-based cryptographic diploma registry following an internal scandal that revealed hundreds of forged documents.
An investigation into fake university degrees in Paraguay, which is already looking into suspicions involving more than 300 local public officials, including high-ranking positions, has extended to Brazil with the scrutiny of hundreds of degrees issued by an unauthorized institution.
The scandal involving fake university degrees in Paraguay, with over 250 confirmed frauds and suspicions surrounding 1,500 more, has exposed a structural crisis in higher education that has led to government intervention in universities and triggered investigations by Congress and the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The removal of Zulma Díaz Penayo from the Education Ministry's universities directorate has widened into a broader debate over oversight, accreditation and transparency in Paraguay's higher education system.
The Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC) intervened at the Instituto Técnico Superior de Gestão Privada San Expedito in Horqueta, in the department of Concepción, to investigate approximately 1,800 teaching degrees suspected of forgery during an audit with a 45-day deadline.
The Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC) reported 145 fake teaching degrees to the Public Prosecutor's Office following an internal audit that identified around 1,500 diplomas of questionable authenticity, while experts suggest the scheme could be much larger and attribute the problem to credentialism and the lack of oversight by the National Council of Higher Education (Cones).
The Senate of Paraguay has set up a special commission to investigate an alleged scheme involving approximately 100,000 irregular university degrees issued between 2023 and 2025, of which roughly 60% correspond to programs lacking quality accreditation. The first institution under investigation is Universidad Sudamericana, the alma mater of former senator Hernán Rivas.
The Senate postponed the creation of Smartum University due to the absence of a binding opinion from the National Council of Higher Education (CONES), as required by law.
Aneaes reported that out of 53 Pharmacy and Chemistry degree programs authorized by CONES in Paraguay, only 4 currently hold accreditation (7.5%), and that of the 1,364 diplomas issued by the MEC between 2023 and May 2026, 76.3% correspond to programs that have not completed the accreditation process.
Paraguayan scientists sent a letter to President Santiago Peña and the National Congress warning about the proliferation of low-quality doctoral programs in Paraguay, highlighting issues such as conflicts of interest within the National Council of Higher Education (Cones), lack of academic rigor, and shortcomings in the evaluation and accreditation of these programs by the National Agency for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Aneaes).