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False qualifications damage the South African economy in several ways: they reduce productivity, increase expenditure, damage reputation, undermine confidence in the education system and reduce tax revenues. Governments and businesses need to tackle this problem, particularly by enforcing existing restrictions, improving the quality of education and training, setting up a centralized system for verifying qualifications and applying sanctions against those offering false certificates.

Corruption and impunity in the Nigerian university system have had a negative impact on the governance of Federal tertiary institutions and the quality of education received by students. In a recent report, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project stated that various allegations of corruption in federal universities ranging from the unfair award of degrees, inflation of contracts, and cuts in staff salaries to the employment of unqualified staff and sexual harassment - are now widespread, and the condition of most of the structures housing the various faculties and departments of these institutions is poorly maintained.

Questions about using artificial intelligence go further than cheating on exams or generating text for scientific articles. They concern academic values the integrity of academic work, but also the exploration of the changing relationship between humans and machines. A recent statement by the European University Association, ChatGPT raises issues for universities in terms of updating policies to accommodate such tools while preserving recognition of course work and authentic assessment.

The Zimbabwe Women Against Corruption Trust Director urged the government to improve the working conditions and remunerations for teachers and investigate on the issue of extra lessons. Teachers in public schools are asking money for in-class extra lessons from students, which is fuelling discrimination against other learners. Those who cannot afford to pay are deprived of equal access to quality education.

Schools and regions can now use the data from the online Indonesian Education Report Card platform to identify problems, find solutions, and improve the quality of education and the equitable distribution of learning outcomes. Following several improvements recommended by the Education Report Card, Al Mujahidin Junior High School drafted teaching modules and learning objectives, 80 percent of teachers carried out differentiated learning, and student achievement improved.

The Inter-University Council for East Africa and member states from the East African Community need to address the issue of poor quality of education in private universities operating without minimum requirements. Members of the East African Legislative Assembly are concerned about those “quack universities” where students are tricked into enrolling but later fail to graduate after the universities have closed. This is the case of Kampala University, which opened a branch in Juba but closed without informing students, leaving them stranded.

Education agencies across the globe are joining forces to fight the rise of commercial cheating services that target students worldwide. The newly formed Global Academic Integrity Network (GAIN) will share experiences and resources to help jurisdictions develop legislation, regulatory approaches and frameworks that penalise facilitating and advertising of cheating services. It was founded by Quality and Qualifications Ireland and Australia’s Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency and launched in Dublin last October.