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South Korea’s National Assembly last week focused on the role of the prestigious Ewha Womans University as part of its fourth round of hearings into an influence peddling scandal surrounding embattled South Korean President. Since early December the assembly has held four rounds of hearings, to gather evidence on whether the presidents close confidante used her friendship to influence policy and wrongly secure millions of dollars in funding for her foundations from South Korean conglomerates.

University students and professors joined thousands of people demonstrating in the South Korean capital Seoul last weekend demanding the resignation of the country’s president over her connections with a close confidante whom many suspect of having undue influence over the way the country is run despite having no official position. Among the allegations is that she influenced the appointment of ministers. But allegations that she also used her influence to get her daughter admitted to Ewha Womans University in Seoul – one of the country’s top universities – led to the resignation of the embattled Ewha Womans University president on 19 October.

The 36 government-run universities in South Korea scored 5.88 out of 10 in a corruption survey by a state-run watchdog on Wednesday, marking a modest improvement from the year before, but indicating an ethical lapse in the research lab in particular. In order to measure the level of corruption, the study looked at factors such as research, administration and contracting with outside vendors. It also examined the frequency of corruption scandals as well as any other act that might compromise the credibility of the institutions.

Seoul's education authority is conducting an intensive crackdown on corrupt practices in the hiring of teachers at private elementary, middle and high schools. Officials at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Monday that they are collecting tips amid persistent rumors of bribery during the hiring process. In this process, it is said that close ties with school foundation officials, or even bribes, often become the decisive factor in landing a job.

In an unprecedented crackdown on academic misconduct, as many as 179 university professors from some 110 universities in South Korea were indicted on Monday after an extensive criminal investigation into a huge copyright scam. The professors have been charged with republishing existing textbooks written by others under their own names by modifying the covers with the alleged connivance of the publishing companies.

In south Korea, a case of plagiarism has shaken the academic world. 200 professors from 50 different universities have been accused of appropriating books by other authors. Their technique to avoid discovery? These unscrupulous academics simply changed the original covers of the publications and added their own names. According to the Korea Herald, some of the alleged culprits are well known assistant professors.

Opposition lawmakers stepped up their offensive against the new Education Minister and further accused him of misconduct during his teaching years. The former professor of Korea National University of Education has already been accused of plagiarizing a thesis that helped him get promot..

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has detected cases of fraud in the admission process of two international schools. More than a dozen teachers and faculty members from the Younghoon and Daewon International Middle School were found to have tampered with applications to admit unqualified students.

The recent cancellation of U.S. college entrance exams in South Korea — the first time SAT tests have been called off nationwide anywhere in the world for suspected cheating —is throwing the spotlight back on the country's hyper-competitive academic environment.