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Lecturers in universities and colleges as well as teachers in public and private schools who are found guilty of abusing students risk having their degrees and diplomas cancelled by the Government to curb rampant abuse, especially of female learners. The Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development said there was an urgent need to curb the surge in sexual abuse of learners in schools, colleges and universities. Punishments such as imprisonment or expulsion from work was not enough since perpetrators always ended up teaching elsewhere using their diplomas or degrees.

The Department of Education is planning to introduce laws to prosecute “essay mill” companies who offer to write students’ assignments in exchange for money. The move is a response to mounting concern over the practice which allows students to circumvent their college’s plagiarism detection systems. The use of these services is not easily detected as software used by universities only detects where students have copied from previously published academic texts. He said the new guidelines would be developed in consultation with providers, students and other relevant parties, and would be informed by recent UK research and experience.

The head of an exam board is warning that undetected qualifications fraud in the security industry is becoming a "risk to public safety". When it applies to security staff, he says, such fraud is a "significant threat to public safety and wellbeing". Regulation is more focused on trying to prevent academic malpractice, but it is not adequately equipped to take on systematic, deliberate fraud. He is calling for an expert panel to be set up to try to establish the extent of qualifications fraud, particularly in areas of security and public risk.

Public registers of individuals claiming false qualifications, as well as institutions offering these, should be established, the SA Qualifications Authority. The draft national policy, which is now available for public comment for the next 30 days, outlines the creation of these registers defining what is meant by misrepresented qualifications, outlining the process for how they will be dealt with, and detailing the various roles and responsibilities expected. Ultimately, only those found legally culpable of qualification fraud would be included on registers.

New higher education legislation being put before Parliament could put students and the reputations of UK universities at risk, even encouraging “scam” universities, independent experts have warned. An extensive report released by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) suggests nearly three quarters of new higher education providers opening in the next two years will remain unregulated after the Government’s controversial new Higher Education and Research Bill comes into effect.

A German finance expert has warned that the country’s federal states could be entering a “dangerous race to the bottom” regarding legislation on transparency in cooperation between industry and higher education. He believes that cooperation agreements should be publicly accessible in order to guarantee academic freedom. The professor of finance and political economy at Aalen University, contested a contract between the University of Mainz and the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation, the country’s largest pharmaceutical company that also engages in research.

The door was slammed shut on politicians rushing to acquire quick degrees before next year’s General Election. A directive by the Kenyan President on Thursday said university students must meet the minimum admission requirements and lecturer times. The Education ministry was ordered to fully implement the directives. “Universities that do not heed these requirements should be dealt with according to the law,” said the President.