In the media

The report of the National Anti-Corruption Commission revealed suspicions of financial and administrative corruption in the public education sector for the year 2018. These suspicions include embezzlement of funds by the accountant of a college in Menzel Bouzelfa (Nabeul), as well as the appropriation of public funds by the headmaster of a primary school in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid.

To fill the gap between demand and constant increasing supply, many players in the higher education sector live by the saying that ‘fake it if you cannot make it’. South of Punjab has been hit by fake education. In Alipur, a branch of a known college chain claimed to be affiliated with GC University, Faisalabad. Many students paid fees to get registered, however, the university website doesn’t recognize it as an affiliated college. The robbed students moved administration and made complaints. But the institutions are supported by the feudal lords in the area.

11 preschool owners and workers stole millions of tax dollars through a variety of schemes, using it to pay for everything from diamonds and Costco shopping to home renovations and a family wedding, state documents show. Child advocacy groups have warned of a preschool special education crisis in New York and signed a letter to the governor urging increases in the reimbursement rate earlier this year.

Perth’s Murdoch University and other universities have become heavily reliant on foreign student fees to bolster their incomes. 50 professors from the Australian Research Council’s Laureate Fellowship condemned the decision to take legal action against an associate professor from the university. Deeply concerned about the integrity of academic teaching, the professor complained on television that the university was not only enrolling international students whose English was inadequate but also allow them to graduate.

Reports indicated that 14.6 million Iranians were expected to start school but the country was unprepared to accommodate them. A big number of dilapidated institutions have not received the necessary funding for reconstruction and furthermore, it was indicated that there was a shortage of around 100,000 teachers across the country. Students at the Amir Kabir University in Tehran participated in a demonstration against corrupt practices that are making their fees rise beyond all affordability.

Many institutions in Australia provide training programmes for their Ph.D. students but these programmes vary in quality, content and reach. The temptation to judge a researcher’s performance for grant funding by the number of published research papers and the focus on the quantity over quality is very strong. They are not just driving bad behaviour for researchers but are also creating a market for criminals to enter scholarly publishing.

In spite of ongoing accusations of academic fraud and financial crimes against his family, a former law professor was nominated as the new justice minister. His wife, also a professor, was accused of allegedly falsifying material that would have helped their daughter enter university and obtain scholarships. In a protest against the government, opposition leaders shave their heads.

A major police investigation has been underway since August 2018 after serious concerns about the school’s finances and allegations of nepotism were referred by the Department of Education. According to the Financial and Cyber Crime Group, they misused $4.6 million from a private school south of Brisbane to buy expensive art and finance luxury trips to Europe and Asia.

A number of senior officials in the Eastern Cape have been accused of corruption in relation to an R1 billion-school nutrition programme in the province; another case involves irregularities in relation to school infrastructure provisioning or allegations of corruption in the awarding of a contract to EduSolutions by the Limpopo Department of Education. The contract for the procurement of textbooks for schools in the province was canceled in 2012 after millions had been paid to EduSolutions.

The FBI arrested the former education secretary along with six people engaged in a public corruption campaign from which they profited at the expense of the Puerto Rico citizens and students. The alleged fraud involved $15.5 million in federal money spent between 2017 and 2019. The education secretary is accused of steering contracts toward her friends without going through regular procedures.