The authorities in Guinea have said there are more than 47,000 fake students registered in the country’s universities.

The figures were published on Thursday by the Minister of Higher Education after a process of biometric registration, which weeded out non-existent students.

The Guinean authorities grant subsidies to universities based on their number of students.

Correspondents say most public universities are full and the subsidies are intended to stimulate expansion at private institutions.

However, some of the private universities responded by faking student registrations in order to obtain larger subsidies.

There was no immediate word on how the government would respond to the revelations.