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The European Commission wants to call for tenders between now and the end of the year to set up a European educational ranking system for universities. This ranking, which will be available in 2010, would be an alternative to the Shanghai one. Indeed, a study conducted in 2008 questions this ranking; this analysis sought to test changes in the methodology, in order to see how the final ranking would evolve where levels differ, aggregation systems vary or even where one of the six indicators is not taken into account. Result: the ranking can vary from dozens of places.

Falsification of report cards to obtain admission into private schools in Kigali is listed as one of the major challenges hampering education quality. Speaking during an education workshop organised by Kigali City Council, an education activist from Power in Education, a local civil society organisation, revealed that a recent survey indicated that over 100 students in various city schools used forged report cards to obtain admission.

An ITV documentary has investigated whether some schools are taking duplicitous measures to achieve top marks. The problem is said to have developed after league tables based on exam results were introduced in 1992, putting more pressure on schools to perform well. Schools can obtain more financial rewards if they feature highly in league tables, while the jobs of heads and teachers are at risk if a bad Ofsted inspection means the school goes into special measures.

KOLHAPUR: Like the grading system in higher education through the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the state government will soon introduce the State Assessment and Accreditation Council (SAAC) system for the assessment and accreditation of the primary and secondary schools across the state, a move welcomed by city-based education activists who say it will bring transparency to the education system and will force schools to improve their infrastructure and education quality

Although there has been an enormous expansion in higher education in India over the past 30 years there is still a huge problem around quality. In 2013 the Indian government launched a new higher education improvement programme. Australian universities can help by: training staff, rooting out corruption, sharing knowledge on access, and establishing research partnerships.

Trinity College Dublin, Ireland’s oldest and highest ranked university, has been censured by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), for breaching the rules of its global ranking by running a campaign which they “clearly forbid”. Trinity, which along with other Irish universities has dropped down the rankings in recent years, launched an awareness campaign designed to ensure that its research is put in the spotlight and make sure key players are aware of upcoming surveys.

Ukraine has little to offer international students. The quality of education offered is low, there is endless red tape and corruption is rife. Over the past quarter century, the quality of education offered has dropped dramatically due not only to a lack of state funding and a consequent brain drain, but primarily to rampant endemic corruption. Failed structural reforms and institutional incapacity in higher education have left Ukrainian youth without any hope of receiving world-class education and have had a negative impact on international students as well.

The issue of education continues to be at the centre of public discourse in Liberia, with frequent outcries about the system. While dozens of scholarly papers have been published by veteran scholars about how to reform education in the country, ambiguity remains as to who is at the origin of the poor level of quality within a sector plagued with issues such as sex for grades, bribery, deception, outdated curricula and a lack of competent instructors.

The state of Egypt’s public schools is an essential indicator of the ways in which the Egyptian revolution has not reached its citizens. In fact, private tutoring has now become Egypt’s de facto education system. A number of teachers have admitted, unofficially, that they teach the strict minimum in class so as to be able to recuperate these same students in private tutoring sessions. According to some estimates, Egyptian families spend over 1 billion dollars in private classes to compensate for the poor level of education: a cost which comes to almost a quarter of the family income.

In the latest education scam from Bihar, it appears that students can purchase top-scoring intermediate certificates for around Rs 5 lakh without even having to write the exam. Moreover, many schools and colleges have been getting their affiliations by improper means. All these skeletons are tumbling out in the light of probes launched after a TV sting found this year’s top-scoring students struggling to answer basic questions about their subjects. Most memorably, one top student said that political science is about cooking. The rot in the state of education has certainly been a long time cooking.