Search Page

The Fair College Admissions for Students Act aims to end legacy admissions in universities, removing preferential treatment for applicants with ties to the school. This move is seen as an effort to create fairer college admission practices by addressing the tradition's benefit to affluent white individuals and the elite school system's reliance on such practices. The bill's introduction follows the Supreme Court's recent decision to end affirmative action, which considered race among factors in student admissions.

At a press conference, the Minister of Higher Education admitted to violating government rules by participating in a January meeting that approved a NOK2.6 billion (US$257 million) contract with an ammunition manufacturer. This contract later expanded to NOK4 billion. He also faces allegations of nepotism for appointing a longtime friend to the board of the Norwegian Institution for International Affairs in 2021.

Arunachal Pradesh's Special Investigation Cell (SIC) raided the Directorate of Elementary Education and the Director's residence over the alleged illegal appointment of 28 primary teachers in Longding district. A case has been filed, investigating corrupt practices in the appointments. The SIC aims to uncover the truth and gather evidence through intensive investigations and coordinated raids in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, in collaboration with local law enforcement agencies.

11 university heads have been requested to file a detailed report on the financial and academic ability of the department or school within their institutions that trains PhD students. They are expected to provide details on how money disbursed by the state was used for PhD defense panels in the period 2020-21 and 2022-23. According to the Ministry’s guidelines, PhD applicants will be approved only if they have sufficient financial and academic means to carry out research projects.

The Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture has revoked 31 private higher education licences after finding that the institutions did not meet the required standards in terms of facilities and student numbers, that teaching was poor, and that there had been allegations of bogus courses and fraudulent issuing of diplomas. The Ministry will help students from the institutions concerned to transfer to accredited institutions. Teachers who are found not to have been involved in the fraudulent schemes will receive the same assistance, otherwise, they will be blacklisted.

The government in Bangladesh is setting up more private universities even though the number of students and teachers at such higher education institutions has been dropping for the last four years. According to the University Grants Commission, private universities are failing to provide quality education, and, in some cases, they were set up without adequate planning as approval was allegedly obtained using political connections. Under the Private Universities Act, a university must own a permanent campus within seven years of its launch. 77 universities are over seven years old but only 26 have permanent campuses.

Several reports revealed that a Jalandhar-based study abroad company filed around 700 fraudulent student visa applications between 2018 and 2022. After completing their courses and fulfilling work requirements, the students applied for permanent residency in Canada and submitted supporting documents. The Canadian Border Security Agency examined the documents based on which the visas were granted to the students and discovered that the letters of admission were false. The Government is investigating reports of fraudulent admission letters.

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.

Thousands of KwaZulu-Natal children have been forced to go to school on an empty stomach. This comes after the collapse of the KZN National School Nutrition Programme due to tender irregularities and corruption. The provincial Department of Education is yet to provide information regarding this issue.

South Korea’s Ministry of Education is planning to strengthen measures related to school bullying records and their consideration during university admission applications after the appointment of a new national investigation chief was cancelled following revelations that he was involved in a lawsuit against his son’s forced school transfer for bullying.