Search Page

Tajikistan has been hit by a huge fake dissertation scandal that reaches all the way up to the highest echelons of government. Russian networking community Dissernet (in Russian) has revealed that more than 25 doctoral dissertations from Tajikistan defended between 2004 and 2015 contained significant elements of plagiarism. Included in the blacklist are high-ranking government figures such as the first deputy prime minister who is a close relative of the country’s longstanding president.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan last week ordered the removal of a number of university vice-chancellors because they were appointed in violation of the merit-based system. In stern remarks on 22 April over the appointment of vice-chancellors in Punjab province, Pakistan’s Chief Justice said “The Supreme Court cannot tolerate any appointment without transparency as the state of education in the province is in complete disarray,” and that the appointments were not the most senior professors but had close links with government circles.

Education Minister this morning made her first pretrial appearance in the Windhoek High Court in the case in which she is facing a charge of corruption. She is due to be prosecuted on allegations that she corruptly used her office as Hardap governor in December 2014 to place the names of two of her family members on a list of beneficiaries for the mass housing development programme at Mariental.

An awareness campaign against widespread corruption in universities, which includes bribery by students to get good results, false diplomas and sex to gain promotion, has been launched by CONAC, the national anti-corruption commission. According to a source “The main kind of corruption here is the sale of grades by certain teachers. Students whose work is bad get teachers or education officials to improve their grades”. CONAC found instances of nepotism, counterfeiting of results, false diplomas, promotions in return for sex, and abuse of power.

The rector of Naples Suor Orsola Benincasa university is under investigation for allegedly helping the son of a former minister get a research position at the institute. The news came two days after seven university teachers were arrested by Florence finance police in relation to a probe into the alleged rigging of exams to qualify as lecturers. Another 22 people have been barred from holding academic positions for 12 months in relation to the probe and 59 people are under investigation in total. The probe was triggered by an alleged attempt by some teachers to persuade a researcher who was a candidate in an exam to qualify as a tax-law teacher to withdraw the bid in favour of a less qualified candidate.

The friend of South Korea’s former president who was impeached in March, was last week sentenced to three years in prison for soliciting university favours for her daughter. The Seoul Central District Court on Friday found her guilty of ‘obstruction of duty’ by exerting influence on Ewha Womans University to give undue favours to her 21-year-old daughter, using her ties with the former president. The president’s friend pleaded not guilty to the indictment, arguing that she never asked for special treatment for her daughter.

In Latin America, one high-level scandal after another has tainted current or recent presidents or vice-presidents across the region. The price is awful public services, from transport and education to law enforcement and health care, as state coffers are ransacked while appointments and contracts are awarded as favors rather than on merit. Yet, counter-intuitively, the steady stream of grim headlines about kickbacks, influence-peddling and nepotism may actually be good news. Many experts regard the public revelations as a sign that corruption in the region is actually being tolerated less and less.

South Korea’s newly elected president has made breaking down the near-monopoly of the country’s top universities on the best jobs a cornerstone of his campaign and has repeated a pledge made by different parties in past elections to bring down tuition fees – which are among the highest in the world. In particular, he said he will tackle the ‘old boys’ network’ and dominance of the country’s top-ranked universities in securing the best jobs in business and politics for their alumni, in order to improve prospects for young graduates outside the capital, Seoul.

University students and professors joined thousands of people demonstrating in the South Korean capital Seoul last weekend demanding the resignation of the country’s president over her connections with a close confidante whom many suspect of having undue influence over the way the country is run despite having no official position. Among the allegations is that she influenced the appointment of ministers. But allegations that she also used her influence to get her daughter admitted to Ewha Womans University in Seoul – one of the country’s top universities – led to the resignation of the embattled Ewha Womans University president on 19 October.

Saudi graduates are reportedly growing frustrated with the increasing number of relatives and family members of university presidents and officials granted roles at the institutions. Saudi Gazette cited documents from one university showing at least eight relatives of the president holding academic roles. “It was very easy to find out the appointment of family members as academic staff from their names. This has irked university graduates who do not find jobs,” a source told the publication.