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A developmental university must have well-crafted research ethical standards anchored in principles of democracy, social justice and human rights. Research ethical standards are important as they provide guidelines for researchers to ensure that specific values like integrity, transparency, respect, objectivity and accountability are strictly observed; they generate confidence in and support for research among both domestic and international research communities; and they help establish trust between researchers and research participants.

Ethics is not always dealing with ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, but may sometimes be a choice of a lesser of evils, a nuanced decision dealing with trade-offs or viewed as situational. How do we better equip students to better understand ethical dilemmas and how to approach them? EthicalSystems.org, collects and shares research on ethics which spans a wide variety of topics, including accounting, cheating and honesty, contextual influences, corporate culture, corporate governance, corruption, decision-making, leadership and teaching ethics, among others.

Following the suspension of student loans and the imposition of a week-long ultimatum, 15 universities in Tanzania have responded to a ministerial directive to pay back loans issued to them for thousands of so-called ‘ghost’ students. The directive was issued after a recent verification exercise revealed that about 2,192 students receiving loans at 31 universities may not even exist. The universities were given seven days to recover and return the money, estimated to be over TZS3.8 billion (US$1.7 million).

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.

Tanzania’s universities is having trouble with ghosts. The government has suspended student loans worth TZS3.2 billion (US$1.5 million), affecting around 2000 students. This came after a routine verification exercise revealed that some who signed up for loans may not even exist. In a country of more than 100 000 registered tertiary students, 2000 “ghosts” may not seem like a big problem. But when the loan money is being misspent, deliberately or because of poor administration, the entire higher education system is affected, and ultimately the country.

A total of 4,827 'ghost' pupils have been identified in Sengerema and Buchosa districts following a special audit. According to the Sengerema District Commissioner a total of 41 head teachers have been suspended in connection to the investigation. 710 of the pupils come from Sengerema district while 4,117 pupils were identified from Buchosa. The Sengerema District Education officer said his office will conduct frequent inspections to identify ghost students.

Tanzania has suspended student loans amounting to TZS3.2 billion (US$1.5 million) affecting over 2,000 students, some of whom are believed to be non-existent as they failed to show up during a verification exercise. Media reports said the two-month-long exercise carried out twice was to confirm that the students who were benefiting through the Tanzania’s Higher Education Students’ Loans Board, or HESLB, at various institutions of higher learning actually existed and were legitimate students.

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 Rukwa Region has identified 2,408 students from public primary and secondary schools as ghost students following the recent verifications. The Rukwa Region Commissioner (RC), briefed the Prime Minister from the regional development reports in Namanyere Town , Nkasi District. The premier was further told that Rukwa Region continued to put into action the directives of the President by undertaking thorough verification of phantom students in all public primary and secondary schools in the region.

A Melbourne start-up has created anti-plagiarism software which is being trialled at four major Australian universities. It's called Cadmus and it tracks students as they complete assignments. The editing and authentication software – which operates like a Google document and can be accessed anywhere – uses keystroke analytics to build up a profile of a student's typing style. This allows it to detect when someone else is dishonestly involved in their work.