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"There are many of us who walk around with our communication detectors," says the chairman of the Joint Technical Competitions (CCP) – soon to change its name to CCINP for the 2019 session - which is the gateway for dozens of Technical schools, and brings together up to 4,000 exam candidates on a single site. Between digital watches and connected glasses, exam cheating has taken a modern turn, and so has exam surveillance.

A 23-year-old man, residing a stone's throw from Lyon, was arrested on Tuesday morning, 3 October, for trying to fool the higher education scholarship system. During the 2016-2017 school year, the young man had received government money based on the establishment he claimed to be attending the conditions he had declared. The problem was that the student had falsified his university registration document, and Crous, which manages student grants, came to realize it.

For a small fee, platforms provide university qualifications, from bachelor's to doctorate degrees. "We have seen this trend return over the past three years, even though sites from the early 2000s which sold fake diplomas had been gradually disappearing," acknowledges the founder of VerifDiploma, which verifies the authenticity of job candidates’ diplomas on behalf of Human resources services. Each year, his company checks 50,000 applications. Of these, 8% contain false diplomas.

Thanks to the introduction of a new biometric census system, education authorities discovered the presence of 47000 fictitious students in public and private universities in the capital Conakry. Thanks to this information, the government will able to better equip its universities and teaching staff, by making sure that funds are directed where they are most needed. The Minister of Higher Education has indicated that this process may also pave the way for the introduction of an automated university access system.

The national education minister has stated that a number of measures will be put in place in order to fight fraud during the next baccalaureate test cycle, including securing the online site of the National Examinations and Competitive Examination Office (ONEC), and preparing back-up questions. The minister emphasised the need to implement technical measures in order to adapt to developments in information technology and communication and respond to the challenges that arise as a result.

A professor in political economy at the world’s oldest university has more or less invited his students to copy. It is his way of speaking out against the impunity of certain of his colleagues accused of plagiarism. He announced “I will not be checking to see if you have copied your work as I cannot, in good conscience, ask you to respect rules that the University of Bologna allows it’s professors to violate.”

Copying is stealing. This anti-plagiarism adage is at the heart of a case which has shaken the small world of French medievalists for the last two years. Today the case has come back with a new demonstration of plagiarist behaviour which is forcing universities and scientific communities to be face up to their responsibilities. And more generally, raises the question of whether the university system as a whole has the ability to tackle this issue, over and above the case in question.

The national education ministry announced on Wednesday that an inquiry had been launched following social media reports that test questions may have been leaked, in order to identify and prosecute any individuals who may be implicated. The ministry reassured test candidates that that the exam would proceed as expected. The ministry added that it is “committed to guaranteeing candidates their right to equal opportunities” and wished them “success for the rests of their exams.”

One of the biggest Chinese illegal immigrant networks ever discovered in France was centred on a private business school based in the XVth arrondissement. This network made it possible to channel between 500 and 1000 Chinese immigrants into France annually, mostly young men between the ages of 20 and 25. Once in France, fake certificates attesting to their student status, report cards and diplomas allowed them to establish themselves permanently, without ever having to set foot in a classroom.

At the end of November, for the first time, 500 of INSA Toulouse most recent graduates received a secure card which attested to the authenticity of their engineering degree at their graduation ceremony. The aim of the operation is to fight against cheating and forgery. The cards given to the students are protected against forgery by a nanoparticle marker which is invisible to the naked eye.