In the media

More than 40 fraudulent websites have been shut down in a major crackdown on the sale of fake degrees. The sites closed included those selling authentic-looking certificates using the names of real British universities. Others were providers offering distance learning courses but were not valid UK degree awarding bodies. New graduates have been asked not to take photographs with their real degree certificates in case they inadvertently aid fraudsters.

New higher education legislation being put before Parliament could put students and the reputations of UK universities at risk, even encouraging “scam” universities, independent experts have warned. An extensive report released by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) suggests nearly three quarters of new higher education providers opening in the next two years will remain unregulated after the Government’s controversial new Higher Education and Research Bill comes into effect.

Public registers of individuals claiming false qualifications, as well as institutions offering these, should be established, the SA Qualifications Authority. The draft national policy, which is now available for public comment for the next 30 days, outlines the creation of these registers defining what is meant by misrepresented qualifications, outlining the process for how they will be dealt with, and detailing the various roles and responsibilities expected. Ultimately, only those found legally culpable of qualification fraud would be included on registers.

The head of an exam board is warning that undetected qualifications fraud in the security industry is becoming a "risk to public safety". When it applies to security staff, he says, such fraud is a "significant threat to public safety and wellbeing". Regulation is more focused on trying to prevent academic malpractice, but it is not adequately equipped to take on systematic, deliberate fraud. He is calling for an expert panel to be set up to try to establish the extent of qualifications fraud, particularly in areas of security and public risk.

Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission this month issued a public notice listing 153 illegal universities and degree-awarding institutions. A large number of illegal universities mentioned in the HEC notice do not exist, some are run from apartments and commercial buildings and issue degrees not recognised by higher education authorities of the federal or provincial governments. Academics say, however, the rising trend of fake universities cannot be discouraged without punitive action against the management of the bogus institutions.

The University of Devonshire, the University of Wexford and the University of Palmers Green are among the trading names of the University Degree Programme, set up with websites looking like they were licensed universities. Thankfully, these fake institutions have all long since been shut down, though the qualifications they issued may still be in use. New fake universities appear all the time. The process to set up a fake university can be easy. Continued alertness and vigilance is needed to preserve academic integrity. We need to stop fake universities trading on commodities that they’re not licensed to award.

Several Egyptian universities have changed their examination systems in an attempt to curb mass cheating. Academic institutions in the country have in recent years complained about widespread cheating, blaming it on a test system based on rote learning and the large numbers of students admitted into universities each year. In a bid to improve the situation, higher education authorities have recently announced the replacement of the traditional exam system with another based on multiple-choice questions.

The Universities and Science Minister demanded tough new penalties for university students who use essay mills – websites that provide custom written essays – and called on university and student bodies to do more to address the growth of such services. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education has also been told to take action against the online advertising of these services and to work with international agencies to deal with this problem.

For the first time, students caught cheating could be criminalised amid fears tens of thousands are buying dissertations from websites – a trend ministers say threatens the quality of British university degrees. Universities watchdog the Quality Assurance Agency said hundreds of “essay mills” are charging up to £6,750 for writing a PhD dissertation. Last year the agency published a report into the scale of the issue, which revealed essay services were available at a cost ranging from £15 to thousands of pounds, depending on essay length and complexity.

One of the most prolific scientists in an emerging area of cancer research involving what is sometimes called the “dark matter” of the human genome has parlayed his decades-long pursuit of cancer remedies into a research empire: He has received more than $86 million in federal grants as a principal investigator and, by his own count, more than 60 awards. However, over the last several years a tide of allegations have been made concerning data falsification and other scientific misconduct. Concerns about falsified data in the scientific literature run far deeper as cases of fraud can reverberate through whole fields of research.