The FBI arrested the former education secretary along with six people engaged in a public corruption campaign from which they profited at the expense of the Puerto Rico citizens and students. The alleged fraud involved $15.5 million in federal money spent between 2017 and 2019. The education secretary is accused of steering contracts toward her friends without going through regular procedures.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up an offensive against the Delhi government and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over corruption in the construction of classrooms. For the 1,033 schools under the Delhi government, the amount of the budget was 23.51 per cent, while for the 743 schools under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the Delhi government allotted only 1.46 per cent from the budget. AAP increased the cost of projects for the benefit of only those it favoured.

The president of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) along with the former Minister of Education are being investigated for corruption matters. During a previous Public Administration and Appreciation Committee (PAAC) sitting, the CMU president admitted that over $600,000 were paid towards a yacht party for the minister of education. According to the documents, the east Kingston-based university paid two companies a total of $674,930 to rent and decorate the yacht.

The police accused of corruption and cheating the chairperson in the Haryana State Higher Education, an autonomous body created to promote academic excellence in the state. The main allegations against him include the appointment of staff in the university against the norms, opening of new educational centres, which were not required, extending favouritism, illegal withdrawal of university funds and spending the same on family’s personal expenses by misusing his official position.

There have been issues of cronyism, nepotism, and corruption in the Ministry of Education, subject to performance audits focused on adherence to the Government’s procurement guidelines and contracts management. According to the opposition leader, the allegations are related to the misuse of public funds and to the “politically connected” persons who have been employed by the education ministry as advisers, “but are not doing any work”.

Taiwan’s Minister of Education has resigned over his refusal to sign off the highly controversial appointment of a new president for National Taiwan University (NTU) until key questions surrounding the appointment had been cleared up. The new president was due to take the helm of the prestigious university on 1 February. However, there were allegations of a conflict of interest in the university’s process of electing him and separate allegations of plagiarism.

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.

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.

Australian universities have been hyperactive in tying up collaborations and research cooperation deals with universities and other organisations in China, including Chinese state-backed companies. But in the wake of a major political scandal in Australia involving Chinese donors who have also funded local institutions, universities have been advised to be alert about undue influence by donor organisations on research, including pressure to produce research for Chinese propaganda purposes.