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For many years now in China, plagiarism among professors and cheating among students have been acceptable practices in a society that has shown little awareness of intellectual property-rights protection almost anything can be copied or counterfeited if the price is right.

Corruption in admissions procedure, the sitting of exams and the allocation of scholarships is rampant in Chinese universities. One positive outcome of a recent plagiarism scandal is the design of a code of conduct for students and professors by Beijing's University.

Universities are failing to crack down on plagiarism despite an unprecedented education ministry circular sent to them a year ago making them responsible for investigating and dealing with rampant cheating.

Even in the country's best universities, plagiarism and falsified data are preventing the country from developing advanced science, says a world-renowned mathematics professor.

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.

New laws to clamp down on academic cheating at China's universities may be implemented as the rampant problems of plagiarism, falsification, lying about credentials and research papers, and other misconduct continue unabated in higher education. However, some experts have said that government-led anti-corruption campaigns are common at times of public dissatisfaction against the authorities, so as to appease the public.