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The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is investigating dozens of cases involving politicians, State and public officers over forged degrees, illegal allocation of resources, irregular employment, and approval of suspected pending bills. According to EACC’s chief executive officer, money and assets will be recovered from politicians who used forged academic certificates to win elective posts, even from those who retired.

According to the Campaigners for Academic Crimes Court, Liberia's education system is overrun by a multitude of "fake graduates" who often pose as academics. Diploma audits are underway at the University of Liberia Faculty Association after two academics have been accused of having fake degrees.

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.

The University of Energy and Natural Resources in Ghana and the University of Rwanda have been the only African public universities providing reports including information such as the university structure, number and qualifications of academic and support staff, total enrolment, and the number of graduates. These reports are a model for universities to adopt and a means of promoting transparency, integrity, and accountability amongst faculty members, staff, students, and communities.

According to 10 Ukrainian scientists, plagiarism, pseudoscience, bribes, and cheating are some of the big threats to academia in Ukraine. Around 90 percent of all science professors in Ukraine are not legitimate researchers. A study of undergraduate students in the Ukrainian city of Lvivs shows that 93 percent of students reported that they had plagiarized schoolwork and 48 percent said they had paid bribes at their university.

Academic corruption exists in doctoral education even though this should reflect the highest standards of academic integrity. Doctoral degrees have become especially popular among politicians, state bureaucrats, civil servants and people seeking employment in academia. An entire market has formed in Ukraine that offers ghostwritten dissertations to order. This market consists of not only individuals but also officially registered firms. If in 2009, there were 16 such firms, by 2016 the number tripled, reaching 46.

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.

The quality of university education in Nigeria declines because politicians refuse to pay adequate attention to education. According to the president of the Academic Staff Union, most universities are “caricatures”, any person can teach and to be academic you only need some temperament. No serious academic work can be done and universities “produce ill-equipped graduates and they go to one political heavyweight, who gives them a letter and they are employed as teachers in the universities”.

The Hunan University of Technology in central China introduced a new free tool to limit plagiarism on campuses. Students could check their final dissertation with an online database to see how much of each paper’s content is copied from existing publications. A former director of the People’s Liberation Army’s Institute for Disease Control and Prevention plagiarised the work of another Ph.D. student in his final thesis. He was stripped of his doctorate after being found guilty of cheating 12 years after receiving.

According to a report published by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the International Quality Group, corruption in higher education vary between countries but it highlights unethical, inappropriate, and illegal practices. Some examples include university leaders and professors with fake or undeserved doctoral degrees impacting on the governance of some Russian universities, ‘ghost advising’ or absenteeism by senior academics, delegating their responsibilities for teaching or supervision to junior colleagues or research students, is widespread in Kosovo, or students and teachers sexually harassing, threatening or harming academic teaching staff in Uganda.