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In spring 2004 interviews were conducted with 43 rectors, vice rectors, and administrators at five private universities. A consensus emerged that successful licensing or accreditation applications, with few exceptions, required some form of bribery. Licensing might require a bribe of US$ 200 about two months' salary for a typical academic - while accreditation might call for a 10 or 20 times greater "gratuity."

The head of an Israeli company that served as the Israeli branch of the University of Latvia and Burlington College was sentenced to 30 months in jail. He was accused of bribing members of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and other public officials and also of selling degrees to public officials for promotion and pay-increase purposes.

Compton community college lost its accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in June. The regional accrediting body cited poor governance, lack of education plans, lack of student support services, and an inadequate administrative staff as reasons for revoking the schools accreditation. The school is now being taken over by the state, despite California's highly decentralized system.

Two students of the Gombe State University have been expelled for examination malpractice. Vice Chancellor of the University approved the immediate expulsion of the students for inviting two unknown persons to sit on their behalf, in English and Mathematics papers.

The news of examination leakages has rocked the West African Examination Council. The leaked papers have forced the council to cancel and reschedule the papers. Both staff and auxiliary workers are now under probe. The leakage occurred despite various measures to eliminate cheating. The council has designed a website and introduced the embossment of passport photographs on certificates to avoid impersonation of candidates.

The University Council of the University of Ghana has given the Vice-Chancellor a week's grace before stepping aside as the administrative head of the University. The decision followed in the wake of massive examination malpractices that have threatened the integrity of degrees awarded by the country's premier university. The Vice-Chancellor is also responsible for nepotism.

Corruption is today a big problem in Kazakhstan's higher education sector. Lecturers often collude, i.e. if one teacher pass a student as a favour for one colleague, then he/she can count on assistance from the colleague if he/she needs to pass one of his/her students. In exams, some lecturers ask very difficult, even nonsensical questions making the tests impossible to pass without coming to an "arrangement". Also falsification of records happens after request from heads of departments, deans of faculties etc.

The need to sell more courses to foreign students is placing universities' reputations at risk and education is slowly being privatised. To replace the missing income due to fall in government funds, universities allow private students, particularly from overseas to buy university places. The fees overseas students pay can represent up to two-fifths of the budget of universities.

A student may learn how to defraud the school's money and yet keep his seat in the Dean's Office. This was the case the Dean of the School of Engineering, recently re-elected to his office in spite of the fact that criminal charges were brought against him for defrauding 140,000 KM of schools' money.

The president of New Zealand's largest postsecondary institution defended it last month against politicians who have accused it of widespread corruption. It is also suggested that the university is home to nepotism and fraudulent accounting.