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.

A 2018 study revealed that 70.7% of second-year students at 8 Mai 1945 Guelma University in Algeria admitted that they had cheated in tests as a result of competition for grades, parental expectations and ineffective invigilation by the teacher. In an effort to protect academic integrity, the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education approved a new law at the end of 2020 that sets out the legal procedures for preventing scientific and academic theft.

Academics in Algeria are concerned about the practice of ordering and paying for ready-made theses that are growing among students at all levels, including masters and Ph.D. The amount of money requested by the “institution” ranges between DZD50, 000 (US$420) and DZD200, 000 (US$1,670) depending on the quality of service, educational level, and the period taken to deliver the requested thesis.

The excitement that marks the beginning of the academic year in the Algerian higher education sector, belies a crisis of credibility in the wake of several recent incidents of cheating. Last October, teachers in the faculty of economics at the University of Algiers disclosed the names of students accused of cheating in a doctoral entrance examination, but thus far no action against the students has been reported in the media. In a city east of Algeria two masters examinations were cancelled in October after model answers were leaked, while in the west, four doctoral projects in the faculty of arts and literature were nullified following complaints of academic dishonesty.