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167 final-year medical students at the University of Oxford will have to resit the exam after alleged misconduct in a clinical examination. The number of investigations related to academic misconduct such as cheating, malpractice and plagiarism has increased from 35 in 2018-19, to 68 in 2019-20 and 77 in 2020-21. The university said that of the investigations conducted in 2020-21, only eight cases of alleged academic misconduct were upheld as an offence, representing a small proportion of the 55,000 exams sat, of which the vast majority were open-book exams.

A survey on plagiarism conducted by Copyleaks collected responses from 31,000 colleges and 20,000 high school students worldwide. The study shows that the largest increase in plagiarized submissions was recorded in the Netherlands, with 26% of cases before COVID compared to 45% after the pandemic, i.e. a total increase of 19%. This was followed by France (37% before vs. 49% after, i.e. - a 12% jump), closely followed by India (42% before vs. 53% after; i.e.- an 11% jump). The UK, Canada and Germany all saw a 4% increase in plagiarism cases.

Sexual harassment in universities is to be investigated by the National Union of Students, which is conducting the UK’s first survey of staff sexual misconduct in higher education. Students will be asked whether they have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct by staff and about their experience of reporting this behaviour to their institution. The research project is being carried out by the NUS women’s campaign. Researchers will consider professional boundaries and examine what types of behaviour students are comfortable dealing with from higher education staff.

A Mail and Guardian reporter reveals the growing trend of fake degrees through her investigation. More specifically, Ashford University and Belford University offer life experience degrees, where qualifications can be obtained solely through the payment of a fee, without any training or studying required. These documents are available online and are being included on CVs across all levels of the employment sector.

A survey of more than 80 universities has revealed that academic misconduct is soaring at institutions across the country. More than 17,000 incidents of cheating were recorded by universities in the 2009-10 academic year – up at least 50% in four years.

Researchers investigating the number of cases of plagiarism in the UK's 168 universities and colleges found over 9,000 incidents recorded in the 100 institutions that responded to the survey. Overall, there were 9,229 cases of plagiarism reported by 93 institutions, which is equivalent to 7.2 cases for every 1,000 students. Some 83 institutions gave figures for cases of plagiarism by undergraduates. On average there were 6,312 cases, which equates to 6.7 cases per 1,000 students.

One-third of students admit to cheating at university by copying ideas from books or the internet according to a survey. Based on 1,022 undergraduates at 119 universities and colleges, the study found that one in six students admitted they copied work from friends while 10% said they looked for essays online. Male students were more likely to copy work from their friends (21%) than female students (14%), the study revealed.