Search Page

The University Grants Commission (UGC) is advocating for a national plagiarism policy to uphold academic integrity and deter plagiarism. The commission's 49th annual report for 2022 highlights the need for such a policy, given the absence of effective tools to detect plagiarism in Bengali research and the lack of a plagiarism policy in Bangladeshi universities. The UGC also proposes a 'VC pool' system to ensure transparent appointments of Vice-Chancellors, Pro Vice-Chancellors, and treasurers in both public and private universities.

Corruption and impunity in the Nigerian university system have had a negative impact on the governance of Federal tertiary institutions and the quality of education received by students. In a recent report, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project stated that various allegations of corruption in federal universities ranging from the unfair award of degrees, inflation of contracts, and cuts in staff salaries to the employment of unqualified staff and sexual harassment - are now widespread, and the condition of most of the structures housing the various faculties and departments of these institutions is poorly maintained.

The University of South Carolina has accepted the resignation of its president after he admitted plagiarizing part of a speech by the former head of the US Special Operations Command during a weekend commencement speech. In his letter, the president took full responsibility for the oversight of citing the text transcribed in the speech.

Too many corrupt professors have infiltrated the idyllic garden of erudition. The University of Dhaka syndicate has penalized with demotion three teachers found guilty of plagiarism. A recent University Grants Commission investigation found the vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University and other officials guilty of manipulating the recruitment process in order to recruit 30 unqualified family members into teaching positions.

According to Transparency International, 66 per cent of the money Nigerian governments allocate to education is stolen by corrupt officials. Resource misallocation, corrupt procurement, exchange of sex for grades, examination malpractices, fake qualifications, teacher absenteeism, and corrupt recruitment practices are just some examples of the challenges the education systems is facing. This affects the quality of education, inclusion and learning outcomes with devastating consequences for national economic growth.

The police accused of corruption and cheating the chairperson in the Haryana State Higher Education, an autonomous body created to promote academic excellence in the state. The main allegations against him include the appointment of staff in the university against the norms, opening of new educational centres, which were not required, extending favouritism, illegal withdrawal of university funds and spending the same on family’s personal expenses by misusing his official position.

After reports of corruption in the process of recruitments to its universities, the Higher Education Department plans to hand over tasks of screening candidates and issuing appointment orders to the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA). According to an official, “one university had given a written exam in a sheet of paper that was handwritten and with nonsensical questions’’.