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The government in Bangladesh is setting up more private universities even though the number of students and teachers at such higher education institutions has been dropping for the last four years. According to the University Grants Commission, private universities are failing to provide quality education, and, in some cases, they were set up without adequate planning as approval was allegedly obtained using political connections. Under the Private Universities Act, a university must own a permanent campus within seven years of its launch. 77 universities are over seven years old but only 26 have permanent campuses.

Several reports revealed that a Jalandhar-based study abroad company filed around 700 fraudulent student visa applications between 2018 and 2022. After completing their courses and fulfilling work requirements, the students applied for permanent residency in Canada and submitted supporting documents. The Canadian Border Security Agency examined the documents based on which the visas were granted to the students and discovered that the letters of admission were false. The Government is investigating reports of fraudulent admission letters.

The Karnataka Education Department has standardized and automatized the process of registering a new school. The norms of the new system involve uploading the relevant documents on the Education Department's website. The district office will check the documents within a specific timeframe and schools will then be inspected by electronic sampling. If all the conditions are met, a certificate will be issued. To increase transparency and guarantee quality control of schools, all processes on the Student Achievement Tracking System will also be made available online.

A special parliamentary committee has been set up to investigate fake certificates and distance education programs that do not meet any standards or regulations. A report shows that universities are receiving calls from senior politicians asking them to enroll students in faculties for which they are not qualified. Other findings include bribery and corruption, difficulties in accessing higher education, and misuse of the Internet.

South Korea’s Ministry of Education is planning to strengthen measures related to school bullying records and their consideration during university admission applications after the appointment of a new national investigation chief was cancelled following revelations that he was involved in a lawsuit against his son’s forced school transfer for bullying.

Over 5,000 students had their results withdrawn by Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) after massive leaks. A headmaster and a teacher at Thokozani school had been arrested after they gained access to the examination papers and sold them to Zvishavane residents. However, according to a legislator, ZIMSEC used the school as a scapegoat for the examination board’s investigations to be concluded hastily.

The Ghana Integrity Initiative has called for the removal of the protocol list system in secondary schools under the Computerized School Selection and Placement System. A new documentary entitled “School Placement for sale” shows parents, guardians, and officials in charge of placement allegedly making “deals” to secure places for students. Some parents paid GHS20,000 to get their children into placed schools while others paid GHS8,500 for preferred schools.

Questions about cheating are raised over the abnormal growth curve in exam results. 173,000 high school students have been admitted to universities at C+ level and above in 2022 compared to 145 in 2021 in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. This implies that 6,300 students exceed the 167,046 places available in public and private universities in 2021.

The central figure in the scam in which wealthy parents paid huge sums to cheat on standardised tests has been sentenced to three and a half years in Federal prison. The mastermind of the sprawling college admissions scam known as Operation Varsity Blues pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, money laundering, and conspiracy

The Inter-University Council for East Africa and member states from the East African Community need to address the issue of poor quality of education in private universities operating without minimum requirements. Members of the East African Legislative Assembly are concerned about those “quack universities” where students are tricked into enrolling but later fail to graduate after the universities have closed. This is the case of Kampala University, which opened a branch in Juba but closed without informing students, leaving them stranded.