In the media

As academic integrity breaches rise by 313%, universities are changing their policies to deal with those linked to the misuse of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Changes include reducing conduct panels and speeding up case resolution to maintain trust and accountability while adapting to technological challenges. Despite concerns about fairness, the universities stress their commitment to maintaining due process rights. Approved changes to the Honour Code allow for proctoring, reflecting efforts to address integrity issues.

A recent investigation by Science Magazine exposes a rise of paper mills resorting to bribery and corruption to secure publication of fake or substandard papers. These organizations pay off journal editors, leading to a network of deceitful practices that threaten the integrity of scholarly publishing. The investigation reveals widespread involvement of editors and prestigious institutions in accepting bribes. Such unethical practices bypass the peer-review process, undermining the quality and reliability of published research.

Some universities in Asia described the artificial intelligence writing tools ChatGPT as the use of “unfair means” while others consider it as a temporary measure until proper policies for their use can be worked out. Unless a student has the course instructor’s written permission, the use of ChatGPT will be regarded as using other people’s work and will be treated in the same way as plagiarism. Teachers can set supplementary oral or written exams or adopt other measures if they suspect ChatGPT or another AI-based tool has been used.

University officials at Hong Kong Polytechnic University – a publicly funded institution – have been scrambling to explain its use of companies registered in secretive offshore tax havens, after revelations in the Panama Papers that it set up two companies offshore to channel funds. The university, known locally as PolyU, had not declared in any of its financial reports that it set up two companies in the British Virgin Islands in 2012 and 2013 as wholly owned subsidiaries of the university, raising questions about its financial transparency and reporting.

The United States firm that owns the SAT, a college entrance exam accepted by many US colleges and universities, cancelled plans to administer the test this weekend at centres in China and Macau following concerns that some students may have obtained information about questions in advance. Tests scheduled to be administered Saturday in Bahrain and Kazakhstan also were cancelled. Students in Hong Kong sat for the test Saturday as scheduled.

Students and academics from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong researching the working conditions of student interns at factories in China have said that an officially agreed investigation into working conditions at Foxconn factories, which produce Apple iPads, did not provide a "full picture" of the extent of abuse of the internship system.

A school administrative staff has been jailed for 8 months at Eastern Magistracy for accepting a $100,000 loan from a cleaning contractor for renewing service contracts of the school for longer terms without consent of the school. The defendant must pay $15,600 in restitution to the school.

While the liberal studies subject will be introduced in senior secondary education in 2009, the ICAC has launched Hong Kong's first audio-visual liberal studies teaching package to promote moral education among secondary school students.