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The rector of Naples Suor Orsola Benincasa university is under investigation for allegedly helping the son of a former minister get a research position at the institute. The news came two days after seven university teachers were arrested by Florence finance police in relation to a probe into the alleged rigging of exams to qualify as lecturers. Another 22 people have been barred from holding academic positions for 12 months in relation to the probe and 59 people are under investigation in total. The probe was triggered by an alleged attempt by some teachers to persuade a researcher who was a candidate in an exam to qualify as a tax-law teacher to withdraw the bid in favour of a less qualified candidate.

The Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities or AVCNU has proposed reforms to deal with the increasing number of individuals being promoted to professorships without apparently following due process.
At its recent annual conference, AVCNU took a unanimous decision to put forward a reform proposal to the National Universities Commission to arrest the trend, which is threatening the integrity of some institutions.
Some of the irregularities with regard to promotion have been leaked to the media, resulting in embarrassment for the affected universities. Since the story appeared, individuals have been emboldened to speak out about how other academics have become professors in questionable situations.

A Chinese Professor has been fired by his university and disqualified from China's Recruitment Program of Global Experts for copying his resume and academic articles from three other academics with the same name. The 39 year-old professor with the Beijing University of Chemical Technology has admitted falsifying his educational background, work experience and published articles by copying the details from overseas professors.

A man assumed the academic identity of a Yale University assistant professor who has the same name as him for several months. The person joined Beijing University of Chemical Technology as a professor in November. His resume listed seven articles published by top English-language academic journals, but the articles were the work of an assistant professor at Yale University.

The government will adopt stricter measures to verify overseas academic diplomas and tighten its monitoring of universities hiring staff with such qualifications.