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A confidential list of students admitted to the prestigious Shanghai Communications University, along with information about their qualifications and the influential people who pushed for their admission, has been circulating on the Internet in China. The leaked list has renewed public debate over allegations of corruption in university admissions.

Counterfeiters are reportedly finding ways to foil China's new electronic registration system for university diplomas. According to government statistics, 600,000 fake diplomas are circulating in China, although many officials suspect that the actual number is much higher.

Ghana. Kazakhstan. Poland: In many countries, teachers must bribe their way into teacher-training college. Some then collect their salaries and do not actually teach; when they do, they demand bribes for students to pass exams. "Textbook racket" is also a common practice.

Israel grants government workers 10 to 20% pay increases for every advanced degree they earn; and as a result, dozens of civil servants, including top education officials, have been put under investigation for obtaining fake degrees.

New Delhi police arrested four people for offering to sell the answers to a nationwide examination for physicians. All the students were to meet on the eve of the test and prepare it through the night. They impounded post-dated checks totalling more than $300,000.

A militant group in the Indian state of Manipur shot and wounded seven people this month for allegedly helping students to cheat on their tests. The shootings took place one morning at three testing sites where college students were taking their annual exams.

A study conducted by students at Chulalongkorn University shows that large numbers of students are climbing the academic ladder not by hard work and smarts, but by cheating. Assignments were sold at a rate of 15 to 30 baht per page, depending on the subject matter and the urgency. Students could purchase multiples choice in advance or written exams.

In 1998, the education watchdog group from Bombay, the Forum for Fairness in Education, won a landmark case that clamped down on secretive admissions practices. The court ruled that all colleges and universities must make entrance-examination scores public, to ensure that admissions are based on merit, and not money passed under the table.

Fees for manipulating entrance test scores are between $80 to $20 000 for the most popular programs, such as computer science, medicine or engineering. Many feel the only way to clean up the system is to expand educational opportunities.