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The University of Düsseldorf has withdrawn the doctoral title of Germany's Minister of Education and Research, claiming that she lifted material for her thesis. While the Minister is seeking to contest the university's verdict, the opposition in parliament has called for her resignation. A Bonn academic and law expert has claimed that the case may have damaged higher education as a whole in Germany.

Controversy over plagiarism in the PhD thesis of the director of Thailand's National Innovation Agency, or NIA, has highlighted concerns over academic integrity and a widespread culture of plagiarism. Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University revoked the PhD – for the first time in the institution's history.

Weeks after Germany's defense minister was forced to resign in a plagiarism scandal, three German universities say they are investigating similar complaints about the academic work of three figures from the country's political sphere.

As Pakistan's Election Commission began its first hearings into parliamentarians' fake degrees last week some feared the scandal had been pushed out of the limelight by the devastating floods. Nonetheless, the degree debacle is straining the credibility of the country's higher education and election systems.

Could student plagiarism actually be reduced? And could it be reduced not through fear of being caught, but through... education? The evidence in a study released earlier in January suggests that the answer to both questions is 'yes' - which could be welcome news to academics who constantly complain about students who either don't know what plagiarism is or do not follow the rules about the integrity of assignments.