Paraguay's fake university degree scandal has moved beyond an internal administrative case at the Ministry of Education and Sciences, exposing a wider crisis of trust in higher education. The ministry removed Zulma Alicia Díaz Penayo from the Directorate-General of Universities, Higher Institutes and Higher Technical Institutes after an internal audit found more than 500 irregular users in the Higher Education Student Registry, known as RUES, a system used to validate degrees.
The ministry says 145 fake degrees have already been reported to prosecutors. Four area directors and two full offices were also removed or placed under review by human resources. Díaz Penayo had held the post since December 30, 2025, for about six months.
The case has political weight because Díaz Penayo has been linked to former Colorado Party lawmaker Orlando Arévalo. Local reports say she previously held roles connected to higher education and that both she and Arévalo hold degrees from Leonardo Da Vinci University. Arévalo is under investigation in the case known as #LaMafiaManda, and lawyers had already filed a criminal complaint against him, associates and university officials over an alleged fake degree scheme.
The scandal has also revived questions about the expansion of universities in Paraguay. An opinion article in El Nacional asked whether growth over the past three decades reflected education planning or the rise of a university market. It called for transparency on how many institutions are authorized, how many actually operate, which have changed ownership or control, and how the Education Ministry, Cones and Aneaes oversee universities and degree programs.
Education specialist Sofía Scheid told El Nacional that the main damage caused by allegedly irregular degrees is the loss of trust in the value of a diploma. She argued that the debate should not stop at individual responsibility, but should lead to traceable academic processes, modern controls and clearer evidence of training quality.
Another article in the same newspaper argued that the crisis affects more than the people who received or issued questionable documents. In teacher training, a weak or irregular credential can affect generations of students. The shared conclusion is that Paraguay needs to turn the scandal into reform based on prevention, traceability and accountability, so every diploma can again function as a public guarantee of real education.