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Cheating is up more than 20 per cent at the country's biggest university. It have been identified 201 cases last year, compared to 166 in 2007, although the student roll remained steady at 38,550. Using cell phones, sneaking unauthorized notes and material, with unpermitted calculators, dictionaries and electronic devices and writing answers before exams started are some of the new and old methods for cheating.

Last year 68 Emiratis were blacklisted from the US for buying qualifications from online "degree mills". Authorities at the time said that those caught using fake degrees could be punished with up to 24 years in prison. However, the problem persists. It is suspected that although the university is registered as a company in the US, the operations were in the Dubai, from where they send fake qualifications around the world

In one hour, and for about 38 dollars, you can get a false university degree in China, but the enforcement of punishment is making it ever more difficult to use such fraud to find a job or get into a foreign university. The measures introduced by China have curbed fraud and many fake degrees are now detected through authentication procedures; however, some genuine diplomas have been awarded to bogus students.

The alleged peddling of diplomas to Chinese students has puzzled the universities implicated, which are now concerned over the effect of aspersions on the international renown of French tertiary training. Two inquiries – one judicial and one administrative – were opened up following complaints alleging that deals were done in which Chinese students were awarded diplomas in exchange for large amounts of money.

Four-week masters and doctorate degrees – and even undergraduate courses – are being offered over the Internet with no official recognition. Hence, the problem arises later when students seek admission to other universities, pass the entrance exam, but cannot enrol as their qualification is not recognised. In Latin America the demand for higher education is so great that people let themselves get sucked in.

According to Education and Science Minister, during 2008 in the education system eighty people were judged for corruption. There were registered 47 facts of financial violations, 12 facts due to abuse of power, 6 facts due to bribe and 4 facts due to illegal issue of diploma.

The education minister has said that secondary-school graduation diplomas awarded from this year on would be designed and prepared by his department and incorporate security features to make them forgery-proof. He added that the certificates would be free of charge and hence neither school heads nor school boards could receive payment for them.

The economic and financial crimes commission and the police have begun the prosecution of proprietors of three illegal private universities operating in the country. The proprietors of the institutions are being prosecuted for operating illegally and for collecting money illegally from innocent students.

The Council for Degree Accreditation (KYSATS) and the Pancyprian Association of Medical Practitioners are investigating some Cypriot and Greek doctors accused of having bought fake medical degrees from Romanian universities. However, it has been confirmed that it would be very difficult to validate whether a degree was bought or earned, because they would not examine the candidates' knowledge, instead the procedures and whether all the procedures were followed and legal is what is going to be investigated.

Last year, the ombudsman for Andalusia received 150 complaints over the enrolment process, according to the 2008 report just published. This is why he favours harsher penalties for fraudulent applications as there are no clear-cut punitive measures that set an example. However, the province's education ministry maintains that punishment is not the best response, so no sanctions will be taken.