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The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is the first South African tertiary institution to use blockchain technology as an additional security measure to protect its certificates against alteration or falsification. The Director of Central Academic Administration calls on all tertiary institutions to collectively improve the integrity of their qualifications and enable companies to verify their qualifications easily and at no cost, which will help to prevent certificate fraud and curb counterfeiting.

TEQSA’s Higher Education Integrity Unit has updated a database of 2,333 suspected commercial academic cheating service websites, including 579 sites specifically targeting students at Australian Higher Education institutions. This intelligence sharing will enable providers to block access to these websites from their institutional networks and is part of TEQSA’s ongoing partnership with the Higher Education sector to strengthen cultures of academic integrity.

A study by a professor of cyber ethics and academic integrity at the University of Wollongong in Dubai identified 34 rogue businesses promoting online contract cheating services. There has been nearly a 200% increase through a site which students regularly use to get help, often with exam-style questions being posted with a request by the student to get the answers back quickly. The price would range from $40 (Dh150) for an exam question to thousands of dollars for a 10,000-word report.

Four students have been arrested for allegedly engaging in malpractice during the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations via Whatsapp and Telegram platforms. Detectives used cyber and digital forensics to intercept dozens of messages containing screenshots of the papers that are currently being examined. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Ministry of Education’s efforts to preserve the integrity of administering the examination have been jeopardized by corrupted government officials.

The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) launched the Organisational Anti-Corruption Plan 2022-2024 to support efforts to strengthen governance, integrity, and anti-corruption measures. As an agency under the Higher Education Ministry, PTPTN is committed to supporting the government’s plans to create an environment free from corruption and abuse of power that can jeopardise the organisation’s image.