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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.

With each teacher taking an average of 6.6 sick days per year, the non-replacement of absent teachers is a source of tension with parents. In the public sector, substitute teachers cover 97% of long-term absences at the secondary level. This rate falls to 38% for shorter absences. However, when it comes to replacing teachers, be it for longer or shorter periods, the private education system is more efficient than the public sector.

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.

Over the last few weeks, the various faculties of the University of Lyon have been doing awareness training with their students on the question of plagiarism. Presented as members of the animal kingdom – sheep, parrots or chameleons, the campaign distinguishes between different types of plagiarists: involuntary, negligent or serious.