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Last year 68 Emiratis were blacklisted from the US for buying qualifications from online "degree mills". Authorities at the time said that those caught using fake degrees could be punished with up to 24 years in prison. However, the problem persists. It is suspected that although the university is registered as a company in the US, the operations were in the Dubai, from where they send fake qualifications around the world

Replacing written exams or coursework with oral assessment may help to stop potentially high levels of cheating by students in universities in Gulf States. While the exact number of cases of academic dishonesty in Arab countries is not known, cheating is likely to be fairly widespread thanks to deeply ingrained cultural reasons, according to a paper published in the journal Innovations in Education and Teaching International.

For thousands of young Syrians it has become impossible to pursue university studies in a country threatened by civil war. In order to begin a new life abroad, students buy therefore fake diplomas. A business that is increasing in the neighboring Turkey.

Thousands rallied behind a top-ranked student in a potential case of injustice and corruption. The student, who had achieved nearly perfect marks in previous years, scored zero out of 100 on all seven exams that she sat. The family believes that she is a victim of corruption and that her papers were swapped with another pupil’s.

The United States firm that owns the SAT, a college entrance exam accepted by many US colleges and universities, cancelled plans to administer the test this weekend at centres in China and Macau following concerns that some students may have obtained information about questions in advance. Tests scheduled to be administered Saturday in Bahrain and Kazakhstan also were cancelled. Students in Hong Kong sat for the test Saturday as scheduled.

In a recent radio interview, the education minister highlighted the national campaign currently undergoing preparation in her ministerial department aimed at students and their parents in order to make them aware of the fight against examination fraud, which is becoming increasingly common in schools. The minister stated that, despite the fact that cheaters are using increasingly sophisticated technology, the education sector is determined to fight this trend.

Kuwait has started taking procedures to determine reasons behind the spread of fake university certificates and also to find ways to prevent the use of such certificates in the future. A report published by Al-Fanar Media on its website recently said this came after the Ministry of Higher Education in Kuwait referred 259 people found to be holding fake degrees to the court.

Damascus University recently issued its first digitally enhanced diplomas, part of an initiative to combat the use of forged diplomas by students wanting to claim they graduated from the country’s oldest institution of higher education. Reports have surfaced of diploma-forging rackets in Turkey and in Persian Gulf countries, as Syrian refugees who have fled their country’s brutal war seek to boost their qualifications in order to gain access to educational or work opportunities, either in the region or beyond.