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

The University of Düsseldorf has withdrawn the doctoral title of Germany's Minister of Education and Research, claiming that she lifted material for her thesis. While the Minister is seeking to contest the university's verdict, the opposition in parliament has called for her resignation. A Bonn academic and law expert has claimed that the case may have damaged higher education as a whole in Germany.

A leading North Rhine-Westphalian politician has been caught up in a scandal over a botched-up seminar test. The Christian Democrat failed to observe correct procedures for test papers as a visiting lecturer at RWTH Aachen University.

The German Defence Minister has denied claims she plagiarised parts of her doctoral thesis after a crowd-sourced plagiarism hunting website claimed to have found "elements of plagiarism" on 27 of the 62 pages of her 1990 dissertation.

A warning by German anti-corruption organisation Transparency International that links between higher education and business are becoming increasingly obscure has sparked an open debate. "We are observing corporate interests increasingly dominating teaching and research to a large extent,” said Director of Transparency International Germany.

German university heads have welcomed proposals by the Stifterverband – a network of foundations, businesses and individuals supporting the country’s higher education and research – for improved transparency in collaborations between universities and industry. The recommendations, issued in mid-April, stress the “responsibility of universities, as autonomous institutions, to regularly and appropriately inform the public about their collaborative projects with industry”.