Following the Covid-19 confinements, there were multiple reports of misconduct in online assessments: plagiarism, use of notes, an online file-sharing service, mobile phones, or collaboration with other students. Five of the eight New Zealand universities recorded an increase in cheating in 2020 compared to 2019: 258% at the University of Canterbury, 104% at the University of Lincoln, 61% at the University of Waikato, 21% at the University of Victoria and 10% at Massey University.

The Macao Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating a University of Macao administrative official and two other partners on corruption charges. They helped a contractor bid for the construction of residential colleges and falsified documents. The main suspect received bribes for projects valued at MOP 220 million (US$27.4 million).

A report on the University of Lagos (UNILAG) by the Presidential Visitation Panel, which is investigating the affairs of UNILAG between 2016 and 2020, has revealed that two of the states of the Federation of Nigeria, namely Lagos and Ogun, lost NGN2.9 billion (US$7 million) due to gross under-deduction of staff salaries over five years by the institution. The seven-member panel detected cases of contract splitting and frivolous contract awards.

The number of undergraduate data science programmes in the US increased from 13 in 2014 to at least 50 in 2020. According to a new study, the undergraduate training for data scientists does not sufficiently prepare students for the ethical use of data science, privacy, and systemic bias. Only 50% of the investigated degree programmes required an ethics course.

Curtin University implicated in unethical research using facial recognition technology to identify Uyghur and Tibetan minorities has lobbied unsuccessfully for the publishers to retract it on several occasions. An internal review of research by a resigned professor at the university found that he breached several ethical codes, including failing to obtain informed consent and approval. The article remains online although Curtin University deputy vice-chancellor has urged the publisher to remove all references to the university.

Between March 2020 and June 2021, more than 500 cases of plagiarism were reported at the Université de Montréal. All years are concerned, and while the cases reported mainly affect the Faculty of arts and sciences, they are also widespread in medicine, educational sciences, and law. They range from the use of unauthorized assistance to the solicitation, offer or exchange of information during an examination.

A research team from the Canadian University of Dubai has identified a new approach to combating academic integrity using machine learning techniques. The new method applies an algorithm to identify cases of cheating through post-exam analysis of student grades from quizzes, midterm exams, and the final exam of an entire class. This technique can complement the work of commercial plagiarism detection software and provide a deterrent and non-intrusive alternative to remotely proctored exams.

Sindh Education Curriculum Department has decided to shut down 10,000 “not viable” or inactive schools across the province. The Supreme Court has issued orders to shut down ghost schools and act against teachers who have been receiving salaries without performing their duties.

The co-owner of an online charter school network in California was accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars intended for primary education. He used a variety of schemes to inflate school enrollment to obtain state education funds, including getting small school districts to allow online charter schools, paying sports leagues, camps, and other youth programs to collect student information, distorting school calendars and moving children between online campuses to obtain maximum funding.

Kenya has a global online industry on ghostwriters helping foreigners to cheat. Many of the essay mills websites are based in the US and Eastern Europe, and the profile pictures of the writers to be hired are fake. They give the impression that the essay will be written by an academic in the West when in fact it is written by someone in Kenya, often a student or graduate there. While some countries are taking action to ban essay selling services, it is not yet clear how effective this will be in stopping a trade that crosses international borders so easily.