Search Page

The friend of South Korea’s former president who was impeached in March, was last week sentenced to three years in prison for soliciting university favours for her daughter. The Seoul Central District Court on Friday found her guilty of ‘obstruction of duty’ by exerting influence on Ewha Womans University to give undue favours to her 21-year-old daughter, using her ties with the former president. The president’s friend pleaded not guilty to the indictment, arguing that she never asked for special treatment for her daughter.

University officials have been accused of misleading an Oireachtas committee over the way they run their financial affairs. Senior officials from colleges including University of Limerick, DIT and University College Cork appeared before the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee on Thursday to answer allegations over unauthorised severance packages, conflicts of interest and poor corporate governance. In one episode, officials at the university of Limerik paid severance packages to two staff due to ‘employment relationships breaking down’, but then went on to re-employ both individuals as consultants.

Across the country, academies have been plagued by allegations of financial impropriety, conflicts of interest and even corruption. Unlike schools under local authority control, academies are responsible for their own financial management. Although this means that developing good corporate relations is essential, many have ended up without a proper framework for transparency and accountability. A 2014 report for parliament claimed that “conflicts of interest are common”, adding: “There is a broader sense that the academy system lacks transparency.”

Zimbabwe’s Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister is facing a probe over the alleged abuse of approximately US$450,000 meant for students in a development that has seen students calling for him to pay back the money and resign. According to a charge sheet prepared by the anti-graft commission, the minister is alleged to have used part of the money to fund cronies in his constituency as part of a bid to regain his seat in the 2018 general elections. His deputy, is alleged to have formed a company that benefitted from the student funds as universities were directed to buy equipment from his firm.

Australian universities have been hyperactive in tying up collaborations and research cooperation deals with universities and other organisations in China, including Chinese state-backed companies. But in the wake of a major political scandal in Australia involving Chinese donors who have also funded local institutions, universities have been advised to be alert about undue influence by donor organisations on research, including pressure to produce research for Chinese propaganda purposes.

The basic education ministerial task team report into the “jobs for cash” scandal has found that corruption is endemic in the education system and the first step in stopping this is to end cadre deployment. The task team’s report, into allegations that some members of South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) have been selling posts for money, has also raised issues within the appointment process in the sector. As a result, the department says it will establish interviewing and appointment panels that would be vetted regularly, as well as reviewing the appointment system as a whole.

Fascinated by easy money, the members of the family who have ruled over Syria since 1970 also love collecting university qualifications obtained through dishonest and violent means. The various degrees held by the members of the family, including in medicine, law, engineering and pharmaceuticals, were not won thanks to their hard work, but rather thanks to money and the abuse of power.