In the media

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is the first South African tertiary institution to use blockchain technology as an additional security measure to protect its certificates against alteration or falsification. The Director of Central Academic Administration calls on all tertiary institutions to collectively improve the integrity of their qualifications and enable companies to verify their qualifications easily and at no cost, which will help to prevent certificate fraud and curb counterfeiting.

A recent study in Kenya found that 68% of respondents had engaged in some form of misconduct, while 36% admitted that they had engaged in the more serious breaches of fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism. To promote ethical research practices, transparency, equity, accountability and rigour across the continent, the African Research Integrity Network (ARIN) has been launched. It will be registered in different countries where nodes will be established.

According to the Campaigners for Academic Crimes Court, Liberia's education system is overrun by a multitude of "fake graduates" who often pose as academics. Diploma audits are underway at the University of Liberia Faculty Association after two academics have been accused of having fake degrees.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) announced that the supplementary fees for security guards at schools are entirely voluntary. However, schools preventing children from attending class because their parents have not made such payments will be punished by the Law. The MoE also reported corruptions scandals in the Southern province of Inhambane, such as the sale of fake certificates or the rigging of examination marks for the Teachers Training Centre admission charged 780 US dollars.

Following the arrest of a lecturer at the University of Kigali over allegedly forging academic documents, Rwanda’s Higher Education Council (HEC) decided to withdraw recognition for PhD degrees obtained from the United States Atlantic International University. The university has an accreditation from a UK based independent international educational agency, however, dismissed by HEC, because it is not a government agency in charge of accreditation in the UK or elsewhere.

Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) had discovered fake institutions in Benin awarding PhD degrees after students completed bogus studies in less than one year. According to NUC, academic projects and theses were sold for about NGN3,000 (about US$7.32) per copy, and sexual harassment was prevalent. Many of these fraudulent institutions are run by Nigerian proprietors who target students from Nigeria, where public universities struggle to accommodate a high number of qualified students seeking admission.

El ministro de Educación Superior sudafricano expresó su preocupación por el creciente número de instituciones falsas que conceden doctorados honoríficos, en su mayoría a celebridades, entre ellas una empresaria y personalidad de la telerrealidad y un artista local. El ministro pidió al Consejo de Educación Superior que investigue y asesore sobre las medidas apropiadas en todos los casos denunciados de estos títulos honoríficos falsos.

Over 100 students at the private KIM University in Kigali, Rwanda, have not been allowed to graduate in July 2021 after authorities detected that they had altered their grades in the university system. According to the Rwanda Bureau of Investigation, the suspects are accused of electronically falsifying documents and could face sentences of five to seven years in prison and fines ranging from 3 to 5 million Rwandan francs (about US$5,000).

A former director and two former deputy directors of Dong Do University in Vietnam were prosecuted for issuing hundreds of fake degrees and illegally earning more than US$310,000. The indictment also points out that the Ministry of Education and Training failed to carry out its responsibilities in monitoring the implementation of regulations on university enrolment and training.

As part of the government's crackdown on degree fraud, and to safeguard the international reputation of UK universities, 85 fake UK university websites have been shut down since 2015. Websites have also been found selling fake degree certificates from real universities: a BBC investigation in 2014 found a website selling the University of Kent for £500, which were described as for “novelty purposes, or as a replacement for lost diplomas”. Employers are encouraged to carefully vet the qualifications of any new employees as “The only way to stop these operators is to remove the demand”.