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A Professor from the University of Fort Hare faces accusations of failing to address plagiarism in the theses of nine postgraduate students under his supervision. A confidential report revealed that he knew about the plagiarism but only advised students to 'reduce' it. This has sparked concerns about the University's commitment to academic standards and raised questions about the quality of the supervision. Despite the findings, the professor remains employed, leading to debate.

The council of Stellenbosch University in South Africa has appointed a three-person committee to investigate allegations of nepotism against the vice-chancellor. A motion to remove him from office, in accordance with the university's statutes, has also been confirmed. The committee will investigate the facts underlying the motion, including allegations of nepotism and a possible breach of rules concerning the Vice-Chancellor’s discretionary placement of family members within the University.

Academic dishonesty including dissertation fraud is on rise universities in Africa. Only 24 African countries out of 54 have institutional repositories. This means that dissertations and other sources of information that can be plagiarised only exist in hard copies. According to a professor from Uganda, one way to eliminate contract writing is to establish a rigorous process throughout the dissertation writing and defence process. The president of the Southern African Students Union believes that paying lecturers decent salaries will lead to a decrease in the number of people engaging in ghost-writing for students.

The report by Corruption Watch titled “Sound the Alarm” reveals shocking forms of corruption in the education sector: widespread misappropriation of resources, acts of bribery, sextortion, abuse of authority, as well as employment irregularities. Between 2012 and 2021, from the primary to the tertiary level, over 3 600 complaints from pupils, students, parents, and guardians were registered, representing 10% of the total number of reports received.

El ministro de Educación Superior sudafricano expresó su preocupación por el creciente número de instituciones falsas que conceden doctorados honoríficos, en su mayoría a celebridades, entre ellas una empresaria y personalidad de la telerrealidad y un artista local. El ministro pidió al Consejo de Educación Superior que investigue y asesore sobre las medidas apropiadas en todos los casos denunciados de estos títulos honoríficos falsos.

Four former senior officials from the Eastern Cape Department of Education and a company director have been arrested on corruption charges involving the purchase of textbooks for students. The senior education official bypassed the department's supply chain process by obtaining a Supplementary Resource Material (SRM) agreement that was not required. Reports allege that the official received a bribe in the form of two laptops and a mobile phone from the company that received the R59 million for the SRM material.

According to the director of Higher Education Resource Services South Africa (HERS-SA) paper, 41 (50%) of women had experienced bullying in higher education workplace. Several South African institutions, including the University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of Venda, and UNISA, have been in the news over claims of bullying, amid other controversies. At UCT, the Vice-Chancellor was accused of bullying by 37 UCT academics and staff members. Research also shows that some victims are bullied because they observed and spoke up about corruption, or even worse when they were forced to be part of corrupt processes.

A professor at the University of South Africa (UNISA) gave a student plagiarised work of his research assistant who left UNISA. He helped him to fraudulently gain a master’s degree and eventually a Ph.D. He was given a written warning by UNISA valid 12 months.

You can now go to jail for faking a degree on your CV According to South Africa's (SA) National Qualifications Framework Act, falsely or fraudulently claiming a higher education qualification is a criminal offence subject to a prison sentence or a fine. Bragging that you have a doctorate or other degree on LinkedIn or Twitter bio, can be enough to get you into serious trouble. Under the new Law, operators of bogus institutions will also face jail for up to five years if claiming to be registered as education institutions in SA or abroad.