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The so called –double, multiple, tri-national, joint, integrated, collaborative, combined current, consecutive, overlapping, conjoint, parallel, simultaneous programs have an important role in the institutions' internationalization strategy. These degrees can be understood as a natural extension of mobility and exchange, but also can be perceive as a troublesome development leading to a double counting of academic work and the thin edge of academic fraud.

The growing demand for college degrees, the globalization of the education market, and the Internet are combining to create a more favorable climate for diploma mills around the world, says Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic, chief of the section for reform, innovation, and quality assurance in higher education at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Companies that employ graduates to write essays and complete assignments for undergraduates claim they are not undermining academic standards because cheating occurs only if the students pass off the work as their own, something they discourage. In the other hand, reduced contact hours between undergraduates and lecturers make it harder for staff to detect work that is out of line with the student's abilities or writing style.

"Degree mills" are impeding the efforts to assure quality in higher education—a significant national issue for some time and now an international concern. In response, the US-based Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recently joined with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to bring together an informal group of higher education and quality assurance/accreditation leaders to focus on degree mills. Issues on the traits and the perils of degree mills, and on the national and international policies to curb that phenomenon will be discussed.

The head of an Israeli company that served as the Israeli branch of the University of Latvia and Burlington College was sentenced to 30 months in jail. He was accused of bribing members of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and other public officials and also of selling degrees to public officials for promotion and pay-increase purposes.