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The government-funded apprenticeship 3aaa was placed into immediate administration, putting 4,500 apprenticeships at risk, after the Department for Education pulled all of its funding from the firm following the police investigation of fraud. The DfE’s Education and Skills Funding Agency allocated more than £31m to 3aaa last year for apprenticeships and adult learning schemes.

Early research findings on academic corruption suggest that accreditation and quality assurance bodies in some countries are having success in handling the problem, but questions about how to deal with the unwieldy issue remain a work in progress. And while the topic is complex and multifaceted, research on student attitudes towards cheating offers some insights into how an emphasis on integrity might reverse the problem, which has long been the scourge of the higher education accreditation profession.

Last September, a declaration aimed at mainstreaming ethics and anti-corruption in higher education was endorsed by the 68 member universities of the Compostela Group of Universities and subsequently also by the World University Consortium and the World Academy of Art and Science, a global network of 700+ university

Universities face constant scrutiny about their plagiarism management strategies, policies and procedures. A resounding theme, usually media inspired, is that plagiarism is rife, unstoppable and university processes are ineffectual in its wake. However, revisiting the origins of plagiarism and exploring its legal evolution reveals that legal discourse is the foundation for many plagiarism management policies and processes around the world. Interestingly, criminal justice aims are also reflected in university plagiarism management strategies.

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.

According to the study, "Fake Universities and Bogus Degrees – Sweden and the World", there has been an increase in the number of job seekers who have been caught trying to pass off fake degrees as genuine, with more than 30 cases reported in the last two years. According to the National Agency for Higher Education, there exists over 800 Web-based fake universities. The study recommends use of a digital database that employers can access to verify an applicant's qualifications, something into which Australia is already looking.

OECD has, since 1997, been engaged in the fight against corruption among foreign public servants in international transactions. As such, the institution organized last November a conference on the promotion of integrity in the public market. One suggestion is to establish a "Black list" over companies that are or have been involved in corruption.