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TEQSA’s Higher Education Integrity Unit has updated a database of 2,333 suspected commercial academic cheating service websites, including 579 sites specifically targeting students at Australian Higher Education institutions. This intelligence sharing will enable providers to block access to these websites from their institutional networks and is part of TEQSA’s ongoing partnership with the Higher Education sector to strengthen cultures of academic integrity.

A survey of 51,000 college and high school students reveals that the average percentage of plagiarism before and after Covid increased from 26% to 45% in the Netherlands, from 37% to 49% in France and from 42% to 53% in India. The new anti-plagiarism software CopyLeaks uses Artificial Intelligence to detect plagiarism and copyright infringement. CopyLeaks can be used as a site license purchased by a school, institution, or publication, by individual writers who pay based on the number of words and pages checked.

Gulbarga University vice-chancellor caught five students copying in the first semester examinations during a visit to a college in Kalaburagi district. Three students have also been arrested for using mobile phones during an examination in another incident. Gulbarga University authorities have been accused of leaking question papers and encouraging examination malpractices. In May, the BCom examination had to be postponed after the fifth-semester question paper for Management Accounting got leaked.

The Calcutta High Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the alleged irregularities in the appointments of 269 teachers by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in State-run schools. The 269 candidates were overmarked for a wrong question out of around 23 lakh aspirants in the Teachers’ Eligibility Test in 2014.

At an official meeting, the Minister of Higher Education announced that measures will be taken to preserve the confidentiality of examinations in higher education institutions. Questionnaires and answer sheets should be sent via geo-located vehicles no earlier than 30 minutes before the start of the examination. A WhatsApp number has been issued on which complaints about malpractices may be forwarded.

A report from Calcutta High Court shows how the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBSSC) allegedly misused the Right to Information (RTI) Act to facilitate illegal recruitment. The chairman of the WBSSC had instructed the chairpersons of the five regional commissions to scan and store their signatures on the WBSSC’s application server. These were used as illegal digital signatures for over 500 fake recommendation letters, allegedly hand-delivered to undeserving candidates.

A 2021 Ministry of Education and Culture survey found that 77% of lecturers in Indonesia admitted that sexual harassment cases happened at their universities, but 63% chose not to report the cases to the police or other relevant institutions. Only 49 out of 122 universities had set up task forces against sexual harassment involving administrative staff, lecturers, and students. Sanctions outlined in the decree include financial penalties for institutions that do not prevent sexual violence and the dismissal or expulsion of perpetrators.

The nominee for Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea had to withdraw over allegations of misconduct during his term as president of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. He favoured all his family members for prestigious Fulbright scholarships to study in the United States. He also faced allegations of improperly holding an additional position at a company irrelevant to his subject of study.

According to the “Cyber Threats Targeting the Global Education Sector” report, there has been a 20 per cent increase in cyber threats to the global education sector in the first three months of 2022. 58% of threats were targeted at Indian- based educational institutions and online platforms. The USA was the second most affected country globally with 19 recorded incidents. The databases leaked from educational institutions contain personally identifiable information of students and their families, website user records and credentials and examination results.