A Singaporean tutor has admitted to helping six Chinese students cheat in their 2016 exams in what prosecutors say was an elaborate plot. The tutor took the exams as a private candidate and FaceTimed questions to accomplices who then rang students and read answers to them, prosecutors say. The students snuck in mobile phones and Bluetooth devices and wore earphones during their exams. The plot was uncovered after an invigilator noticed unusual sounds coming from one of the students involved, prosecutors said.

Singapore is at far greater risk of academic fraud now, given the increasingly competitive academic environment here.The danger has always been around, but the pressure to "publish or perish" has steadily been increasing in recent years, in the light of the rise of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in international league tables, such as the closely watched Times Higher Education World University Rankings, over the past few years. A university's research quality and output play a key role in the assessment so academics have a compelling incentive to make a mark.