In the media

The Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC) has banned the awarding of honorary degrees to serving public officials. This decision was taken after an investigation found that honorary degrees are being used as a way to fraudulently gain the title ‘Dr’. The head of NUC warned that misuse of honorary titles undermines the integrity of universities and diminishes public trust in genuine academic qualifications. The report identified 32 Nigerian institutions operating as honorary degree mills.

The Australian Department of Home Affairs has published a new Student Visa Integrity Alert in response to multiple cases of applicants attempting to enrol in university programmes with fake passports, enrolment certificates or exam results. While higher education institutions are dependent on incoming international students, the Department warns that admitting students based on fraudulent documents can undermine trust in Australia’s academic programmes.

Education authorities in the Philippines have signed a Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) to take action against “diploma mills”. The establishment of the JMC is a direct response to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), which found an alarming level of unaccredited and substandard programs in higher education, especially in teacher education. The JMC addresses this until 2029 by establishing, among others, an Online National Registry (ONR) and a Quality Assurance Harmonization Committee to create transparency over accredited programs.

Hong Kong universities face a growing challenge of admissions fraud, with police receiving 126 reports of allegedly fraudulent academic qualifications in just the first seven months of 2025. Universities reported rejecting several hundred applications suspected of falsified credentials. Authorities are introducing AI-assisted verification, rigorous checks, and anti-fraud training to safeguard higher education integrity.

Machine learning analysis found that around 10% of cancer research papers over the past 25 years, including top journals, were linked to retracted paper mill publications, rising to 15% recently. Flagged papers appeared in multiple countries e.g. China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt, highlighting a global challenge to medical research reliability and integrity.

An Australian university accused nearly 6,000 students of academic misconduct in 2024, mostly for alleged unauthorized use of artificial intelligence in assignments. About one-quarter of referrals were dismissed, with some students waiting months for clearance. The university has since introduced training on ethical AI use for staff and students.

Algeria plans a national AI-powered plagiarism detection system for universities and research institutions, integrating SNDL and university library portals. Between 2018–2025, 50 Algerian papers were retracted (6.3 per year), while globally, around 0.08% of publications are withdrawn annually. By January 2026, the system will access major databases, detect complex plagiarism, and could serve as a model for Africa, promoting academic integrity and research transparency.

Kenya is a major hub for academic ghostwriting, with an estimated 40,000 shadow scholars in Nairobi alone, producing essays, dissertations, and coursework for international students. Earnings range from under 1 GBP per page to thousands of pounds for dissertations. Despite the 2022 ban on essay mills in the UK, ghostwriting practices persist, now increasingly intertwined with generative AI.

In Mexico, two former officials of a state Education Ministry have been charged with embezzlement and failure to fulfill legal duties for allegedly diverting approximately 290 million MXN (approx.16 million USD) from 2018–2021. Funds originally allocated for staff salaries and benefits were misused via trusts and a financial company.

In Belgium, three students were caught using ChatGPT during the Flemish medical entrance exam, the first explicitly recorded AI fraud-scandal in this context. This year’s passing rate (47%) for the exam was unusually high. Universities are taking varied approaches, prohibiting AI in exams, but also introducing training, clearer guidelines, and new assessment methods to ensure students use these tools responsibly.