In the media

At the end of November, for the first time, 500 of INSA Toulouse most recent graduates received a secure card which attested to the authenticity of their engineering degree at their graduation ceremony. The aim of the operation is to fight against cheating and forgery. The cards given to the students are protected against forgery by a nanoparticle marker which is invisible to the naked eye.

In south Korea, a case of plagiarism has shaken the academic world. 200 professors from 50 different universities have been accused of appropriating books by other authors. Their technique to avoid discovery? These unscrupulous academics simply changed the original covers of the publications and added their own names. According to the Korea Herald, some of the alleged culprits are well known assistant professors.

There are calls for the way loans are awarded to students to be reviewed after an undercover reporter using fake qualifications was offered one. The Education Minister suspended payments to the college, but defended the regulations in place. The programme also discovered the college's principal faked his Cambridge University PhD and teaching certificates.

In India, university fraud is a national sport, practiced at all levels. Beginning with the former prime minister up to the former Delhi justice minister who allegedly fakes his qualification in … law. The increase in fake qualifications is undoubtedly linked to the lack of universities in the country, with some of the harshest selection processes in the world. Leaving the country to study overseas is so expensive that counterfeit diplomas from international universities abound.

In rural Cameroon, government budget allocations and expenditures are still hidden from public view. Focal Integrity Team of Cameroon (FITCAM) managed to convince public officials to disclose information of public interest to community organizations. They then supported citizens in holding authorities to account on local education projects in the Fako Division of Buea, in South West Cameroon. After exposing the corrupt practices of contractors, the Ministry of Public Contracts declared savings of 5,342, 765 CFA (approximately $5,980) through renegotiating contracts relating to a number of projects.

The association representing Canada’s university professors has condemned Carleton University’s board of governors for a new policy that will ban board members from speaking publicly about the meetings they attend. The professors say the move is a violation of transparency and openness that is fundamental to academic freedom. The board has also moved to ban faculty and student union representatives from sitting on the board, claiming they are in conflict of interest.

A series of incriminating reports in 2015 indicate that corruption has hit several parts of the education sector. A countrywide audit being conducted by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has established that authorities have prejudiced schools of millions in levy scams. School authorities accused of embezzlement have been arrested and subsequently convicted, with some of them jailed for at least five years.

KOLHAPUR: Like the grading system in higher education through the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the state government will soon introduce the State Assessment and Accreditation Council (SAAC) system for the assessment and accreditation of the primary and secondary schools across the state, a move welcomed by city-based education activists who say it will bring transparency to the education system and will force schools to improve their infrastructure and education quality

Three Chinese university chiefs have been “named and shamed” for allegedly engaging in illicit acts of “hedonism and dishonesty”. The punishments – the latest example of the Chinese president’s offensive against corruption within the Communist party – were dished out to top officials at the Communication University of China, state media reported on Tuesday. It said two were sacked and another was disciplined.

The video concerns the European Union Code Of Ethics project, which aims to introduce guidelines, and toolkits, improve the legal framework and underpin professional standards and practices in higher education institutions in Armenia with positive ethical principles and values.