Search Page

The Minister of Higher Education commissioned a report into the affairs of Unisa, Africa's biggest open distance learning institution. There have been claims of maladministration, as well as tender irregularities, allegedly involving the University's Vice Chancellor and principal. The report found that Unisa has been plagued by governance issues since 2016. It included the flouting of procurement processes, irregular appointment of staff members, as well as huge salary increases.

Cadmus, a software platform with sophisticated learner analytics that detects the authenticity of a student’s work has been awarded $600,000 by the Breakthrough Victoria, the State Government's investment fund. Reports show a 76% decrease in academic misconduct, a 91% positive student experience and an 8.5% increase in academic performance and pass rates.

The higher education regulator TEQSA disrupted access to another 100 academic cheating websites. This brings the number of illegal cheating websites blocked under these protocols to 250 since August 2022. The agency has also developed a range of resources for students and staff. Australia’s anti-cheating laws make it illegal to provide or promote academic cheating services. Penalties include up to 2 years in prison and fines of up to $110,000.

In collaboration with the UNODC and UNESCO, the Agence de prévention et de lutte contre la corruption (APLC) has organised integrity training for teacher trainers in nursery, primary, secondary, and vocational education. As the leading national authority in the fight against corruption, the APLC aims to take far-reaching action and provide concrete responses through the development of a prevention strategy designed to curb this scourge.

The Ministry of Education has suspended the recruitment and transfer of new staff in all government schools until a national public service payroll audit is completed. Teachers will have to be physically verified by the office of the Auditor General and those absent will not be counted. The Education Service Commission said that in October 2022 the government payroll had over 1, 000 ghost teachers.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Education is considering the digitalisation of school-leaving and university exit exams to counter corruption and cheating in the sector. But a national strategy is necessary to address challenges associated with a digital exam, such as the availability of infrastructure and IT facilities as well as security needs.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) sanctioned 13 Secondary Schools in Gombe State over cases of examination malpractice. From 2018 to 2020, seven public secondary schools were found to be involved in exam malpractice. In 2022, the Ministry received a fresh set of six schools that committed the same offence, and they were also de-recognised with a penalty of N500,000 per school payable to WAEC. According to WAEC director, the threat of examination malpractice had a negative impact on students' performance in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations result: with an overall average of 55.6% in 2022 compared to 79.5 per cent in 2021.

The High Authority for Good Governance in Côte d'Ivoire has announced the completion of the design of the manuals and training programme entitled "Education in the Fight against Corruption", intended for students and future civil servants. The documents will be forwarded to the government for adoption. This project on the fight against corruption was launched in 2019 from preschool to higher education through primary, secondary, technical and vocational education, as well as vocational training schools.

The Enumeration Committee of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s homegrown feeding programme has uncovered 349 ghost schools in Nasarawa state. The Committee discovered that some officials were pocketing the money meant for school meals. Two officials were suspended and replaced, however, calls to remove Nasarawa state from the programme were rejected in order to avoid punishing the poor children benefiting from the scheme.