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Under the new measures approved on academic integrity for all its candidates, all Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members standing for election will have to list their degrees and sign an academic ethics statement declaring that they did not engage in plagiarism, falsification or ghostwriting when writing their theses. This follows the revoke of various doctoral degrees of DPP members for plagiarism allegations.

A recently published survey study of PhD students in Denmark reveals that an ethically questionable culture for assigning authorships to research papers is widespread within the medical and natural sciences across Europe. 49% of the PhD students in medical sciences had granted guest authorship to a person in power while 42% were in the natural and technical sciences.

Most PhD holders in Morocco do not trust universities' processes for recruiting assistant professors due to suspicions of political affiliation, nepotism, and bribery. 80% of PhD holders indicated that the existence of several unethical practices is the main reason behind their lack of trust, including political affiliation (86%), bribery (68.3%), relationship, affinity, and family relations (48.8%). Over 88% of those who obtained their PhDs in the past year said they had not had a chance to go through the oral recruitment interview, with only 3% saying they had two interviews.

Following two scandals at National Taiwan University involving two politicians, the president of the Union of Private School Educators called on the Ministry of Education to ensure that university dissertation plagiarism is prevented. Academics are unlikely to blow the whistle on misconduct by politicians studying for degrees. Instead of being compromised by favours from politicians, thesis advisers should instead be gatekeepers of academic ethics.

The new Globethics.net University Ranking (GUR) will provide a unique global ranking instrument that places values, ethics, and sustainability as central principles of higher education institutions worldwide. It encompasses a new higher education framework to assess student learning experience, and key stakeholders on integrity, values-driven leadership, and sustainability commitment. Universidad de Santiago, a private institution in Cape Verde, received the highest overall score and gained the best marks for student sustainability and integrity.