EMPLOYER expectations, exam grade inflation and the rising cost of university fees appear to be encouraging more graduates to exaggerate their academic achievements.

A survey by careers adviser, Graduate Prospects, questioned 1,306 students and graduates earlier this year. More than two-thirds (68%) reported that buying a fake degree would be more tempting than spending three or four years obtaining the real thing.

It appears that education fraud is on the rise and while two-thirds of the people asked recognised that it is illegal to give misinformation on CVs, a third admitted already knowing someone who has lied or exaggerated about their qualifications on their CV. Almost half (43%) said the rise in tuition costs would make graduates more likely to lie on their CV, while a third disagreed with this suggestion.

The top four qualification lies graduates are most likely tell are:

.:. Grade - give a higher class than they actually achieved (47%)

.:. Course completion - say they completed a course when they only finished part of it (29%)

.:. Subject - give a different course subject to suit a job's requirements (13%)

.:. Qualification - say they have a degree when they do not (11%)

The survey follows the launch of a new degree verification service - known as the Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD) - jointly developed by Graduate Prospects with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Universities UK.

Funded by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, HEDD is being launched to help combat education fraud by making it simpler and quicker for employers to check candidate qualifications.

It currently costs universities more than �2m per year to fulfil degree verification requests but HEDD will make it easier for institutions to monitor, audit and report on enquiries.

Mike Hill, chief executive of Graduate Prospects, said: "Through these trials, we know that people are exaggerating their qualifications, but we are yet to identify what proportion is down to error and what is deliberately deceitful. Interestingly, 89% of students and graduates said that by just having the knowledge that their qualifications were going to be checked would make them less likely to lie. If someone is willing to lie at such an early stage, how can you trust them when they become part of your organisation? It's incredibly important that employers validate who they are recruiting."

All UK universities and colleges are eligible to join HEDD. It currently includes all 165 publicly-funded universities and colleges in the UK, plus the University of Buckingham, which has been reporting its student outcomes to the Higher Education Statistics Agency since 1990.

Visit www.hedd.ac.uk