Mumbai University hands over 350 Ph.D. degrees annually to its students without any plagiarism detection test. Even though the “URKUND” software was made available for free by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the use of the software has not started yet. According to the UGC regulations, any similarity of over 10 per cent in two documents is considered plagiarism or duplication.

Following the University Grants Commission’s regulations for the promotion of academic integrity, Andhra University decided to implement a technology-based mechanism to prevent plagiarism. No thesis with a similarity index above 20% can be submitted. In addition, the students must submit an undertaking stipulating that their work is original.

The Madras High Court had asked district educational officers to keep a separate record of the asset details of the teachers working in the state’s public school. All teachers could buy new properties and vehicles only after permission from the government. In addition, in order to ensure the teachers are on time, a biometric attendance system was introduced for all teaching and non-teaching staff.

The Indian government is planning to digitise academic records as part of a drive against fake degrees and institutions at a time when prominent public figures are being challenged to prove that they are entitled to the degrees and qualifications they claim to have. The National Academic Depository, which will start functioning this year, will include authenticated academic records from 2016 onwards with the government ensuring that all institutions, including school boards, issue digitised certificates with digital signatures from this academic year.

Universities across the country may now have to resort to cashless means like bank transfers, cheques and credit/debit cards while making use of periodic funds from University Grants Commission (UGC). The commission said the move was in order to bring in accountability, transparency and seamlessness in the process of transfer of grants. The commission said it has virtually made payments cashless and decreased the interface between stakeholders and employees of the organisation.

The government has appointed a task force to create a national database of academic qualifications to ensure confidentiality, authenticity, online verification and easy retrieval of degrees.