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As part of its drive to clamp down on excessive tutoring and elite private schools that prepare students for the best universities, the South Korean government has ordered almost a dozen universities to revamp their admissions tests to bring them more in line with the normal high school curriculum. The ministry of education has said it will look into punishing the universities who have violated the regulations, including a partial ban on recruiting students for the 2019 academic year. Meanwhile, the Korean Council for University Education found that more than 1,500 college admission essays submitted to universities last year were suspected of being plagiarised.

The door was slammed shut on politicians rushing to acquire quick degrees before next year’s General Election. A directive by the Kenyan President on Thursday said university students must meet the minimum admission requirements and lecturer times. The Education ministry was ordered to fully implement the directives. “Universities that do not heed these requirements should be dealt with according to the law,” said the President.

Universities involved in corruption will be stripped of their charters, the Education Cabinet Secretary has said. The minister warned that universities that admit and allow unqualified students to graduate will also lose their charters. He also said universities that grant politicians certificates that they are not qualified for ahead of next year’s elections will be not be spared. He spoke during the first graduation of the Cooperative University of Kenya on Friday.

University students and professors joined thousands of people demonstrating in the South Korean capital Seoul last weekend demanding the resignation of the country’s president over her connections with a close confidante whom many suspect of having undue influence over the way the country is run despite having no official position. Among the allegations is that she influenced the appointment of ministers. But allegations that she also used her influence to get her daughter admitted to Ewha Womans University in Seoul – one of the country’s top universities – led to the resignation of the embattled Ewha Womans University president on 19 October.

The national education minister has stated that a number of measures will be put in place in order to fight fraud during the next baccalaureate test cycle, including securing the online site of the National Examinations and Competitive Examination Office (ONEC), and preparing back-up questions. The minister emphasised the need to implement technical measures in order to adapt to developments in information technology and communication and respond to the challenges that arise as a result.

When the Ministry of Education in 2014 introduced its strict “no cheating” policy for school leavers, many of those who had cheated their way through in previous years surely breathed a sigh of relief. The ministry has been applauded for its tough stance; after all, there’s little point in an education system in which you can cheat your way to top grades. The problem is that, although getting into university is harder, getting through university hasn’t changed much at all. Once you’re in – depending on the institution – the chances to cheat are as widespread as ever. And that means at least some of the 250,000 students in higher education don’t have to learn in order to graduate.

The higher education and research minister has warned new students to make sure they enrol in higher education institutions that are authorised and accredited by the state. During the past few years many new private institutions had opened as the numbers of young people qualified to enter higher education increased but places in public universities remained low. She stressed that “the ministry refuses to ratify or recognise the diplomas of institutions without authorisation.”

The online disclosure of college admittance high-school exams has led to nationwide disruptions in Egypt and Algeria. Despite vows by authorities to make sure tests are secure, exam questions have been leaked prior to exam administration in both countries for several years. An October decree by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called for prison sentences for unauthorized disclosure of testing materials. But that decrees has failed to deter a cluster of Facebook groups that have leaked exam questions.

The Education Minister has threatened to use Article 44 of the interim constitution in tackling many ugly problems in the country's higher-education sector. Several private and state universities have operated programmes recently without proper permission. The latest scandal surrounds Bangkok Thonburi University (BTU). Though permitted to run a master's degree programme in educational management for 500 graduate students each year, the university has recruited 2,500 students to its programmes annually.

First, there was the #OromoProtest which led to the cancelation by the government in Ethiopia of the Ethiopia Higher Education Entrance Exam (EHEEE), which was scheduled to take place as of May 30. The leaking by unknown individuals and the dumping on the social media by Oromo activists of this national school leaving exam has now sparked a debate amongst Ethiopia’s net-citizens, and the media. Surprisingly (or not for that matter) the debate is on whether or not leaking the exams and dumping them online trespasses the moral obligation of safeguarding the academic lives of more than 250, 000 students who were readying to sit for the exams.