In the media

Yet another senior German politician is the focus of questions about his doctoral thesis. Lower Saxony's Minister of Cultural Affairs is alleged to have quoted incorrectly several sources in his dissertation, creating the impression that he originated more of the content than was actually the case.

An exposé in the Russian edition of Esquire has roiled education and health officials here by detailing the corruption at six medical schools. The magazine in April published nine short articles by medical students describing the various ways they can pay professors in exchange for passing tests.

A member of the European Parliament has bowed to pressure from Germany's major higher education and research organisations and stepped down from her new post in the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, following plagiarism accusations.

The World Bank's anti-graft chief says developing nations should be given a manual to help them deal with corruption. Tackling corruption should be put on the curriculum for every school child in the world's poorest countries, he says.

An Education Minister says the University of Wales has let down higher education in Wales and brought the nation "into disrepute". His criticism comes after a watchdog's report told the university to review its worldwide college links, which include in particular a college in Bangkok said to be operating illegally.

Following the adoption in Burundi of a strategy for good governance and fight against corruption, the country has just produced a reference document that gives leaders and the public a long-term perspective vis-à-vis good governance and the fight against corruption. This document includes a chapter on education.

A Spanish university has denied that disciplinary proceedings against one of its professors are a response to a book he wrote alleging corruption at the institution. A professor of education at the University of Murcia has been accused of absenteeism and could face dismissal.

The Immigration Minister admitted yesterday there may be widespread abuses of a visa scheme that provides foreign students with the chance to enrol at UK institutions after irregularities were found at a Scottish university.

There have been calls for Welsh universities to be more consistent in dealing with students who plagiarise. New figures show between 2008 and 2011, 927 students from six Welsh universities copied work.

Paper mills and cheat sites are losing ground to social and user-generated Web sites as sources of material for student papers, and Wikipedia rules above all others as a source for plagiarism. A third of matched content derives from online sites where people contribute and share content, while only 15 percent of content matches have ties to sites specifically promoting "academic dishonesty".