African ghost-writer claims to have written hundreds of papers for New Zealand students while allegedly working for Eastern China-based academic essay writing service Assignment Joy. The anonymous whistle-blower alleges that some New Zealand students graduated without ever writing a single assignment. Urgent talks are ongoing between New Zealand universities and the Government to follow Australia’s move, outlaw cheating websites and block them from local access.

The Chalinze Modern Islamic Pre and Primary School examination centre has been suspended by the Government for examination malpractice. Five students had their examination numbers altered with no clear explanation from the invigilators. The minister demanded that the owner of the school sack all teachers involved in the cheating scandal, or risk permanent deregistration of the establishment. The National Examination Council of Tanzania corrected the candidates’ examination numbers and the results affected by this malpractice.

Education agencies across the globe are joining forces to fight the rise of commercial cheating services that target students worldwide. The newly formed Global Academic Integrity Network (GAIN) will share experiences and resources to help jurisdictions develop legislation, regulatory approaches and frameworks that penalise facilitating and advertising of cheating services. It was founded by Quality and Qualifications Ireland and Australia’s Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency and launched in Dublin last October.

Researchers globally have reported that since the pandemic, there is growing concern about cheating and the risk it poses to the integrity of higher education. The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency recently used its powers to block academic cheating websites for the first time. The Agency blocked 40 websites that were visited about 450,000 times a month.

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has booked eight persons, including four former employees of the varsity and four private persons for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and falsification of accounts. While perusing the details of registration and tuition fees of 16,580 students, the DVAC officials found that the serial number of one demand draft was used multiple times against several students.

WA universities have been caught up in claims their students are paying an academic ghost-writing service to complete their assignments. A whistle-blower claimed to have completed assignments for students at universities across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Australia’s Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Association recently cracked down on commercial academic cheat sites using Australia’s new anti-cheating laws. Students who pay to cheat are subject to their institution’s discipline policies.

To prevent the leakage of question papers and other malpractices, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has tightened the security of the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Ten cases of breaches of WAEC rules were identified, including people linked to rogue websites, while the suspects in three cases were convicted and fined by the court. According to the head of Public Affairs of WAECA, schools accused of malpractice will be monitored and confidential material and examination papers will be stored.