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Right after its inauguration in 2012, the then new Tunisian government reassured its electorate that it will continue to take the fight against corruption seriously. Numerous international partners were asked to submit their recommendations, and soon enough the authorities' to-do list becam very long.

More than 600 academics in Germany have signed a petition demanding that cases of plagiarism and data manipulation be settled in discourses at subject level. The campaign is critical of a move by the German Rectors' Conference to have such issues treated confidentially in university committ

Around two-thirds of China's top research universities still have policies that can be used to limit the proportion of women students, despite tighter government regulations issued this year against gender discrimination in universities and the workplace.

A ruling by India's Supreme Court that appointments for highly specialised teaching positions in medical colleges cannot be subject to affirmative action caste-based quotas has led to a political uproar that has disrupted the current session of parliament, where a number of higher education bills are pending. The issue of caste reservations is highly political, with elections due in five states and national elections scheduled for 2013.

The Malaysian government announced the allocation of seats at public universities last week, and it sparked uproar among ethnic Chinese and Indians. Only 19% of places were awarded to Chinese and 4% to Indian students – and even some with the highest exam scores failed to gain a place on their preferred course. The ethnic breakdown of the Malaysian population is 23% Chinese and 7% Indian, while 60% are Malay according to the most recent census. The results prompted the treasurer general of the Malaysian Indian Congress,– to say it was "the most unfair and biased public university intake in the history of Malaysia".

Bangladesh aims to get the full picture on corruption in the education ministry by installing closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) in its key offices in the capital to catch bureaucrats taking bribes for services. The officers have to change their mindset and work as servants of the..

Alberta's auditor-general says Medicine Hat College's international education division has been an out-of-control programme that has put the college at "reputational, legal and financial risk". The Auditor-Generals report released last Tuesday shows a record of irregular contracts, questionable expenses and dubious academic standards for the C$1.7-million programme, which focuses on attracting foreign students from multiple countries, and works in partnership with three Chinese institutions, to offer courses overseas for Chinese students who can then transfer to Medicine Hat College.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has opened a probe of World Peace University, which seems to grant honorary degrees in exchange for money, a practice the "university" insists is ethical and legal. The DSI said it received a complaint that the operation of World Peace cheats the public, with awards of degrees without normal university merit.

Universities determined to rise up international rankings are increasingly "playing" the methodology, Shaun Curtis of the University of Exeter in the UK told the "Worldviews 2013" conference last week. One way is to seek support from colleagues in other institutions who are answering rankings questionnaires, and another is to game the data.

The nation will make the battle against corruption part of the high school curriculum in the 2013-14 academic year, starting in September, after it was piloted for three years in accordance with a government decision issued in late 2009.