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Academic corruption linked to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgency of strengthening transparency and accountability in African universities. Such corruption includes research malpractice, questionable research management, mismanagement of research funds and procurement fraud. Several university officials bypassed public procurement procedures for the purchase of materials and equipment for coronavirus research. 33 papers were identified as unsuitable for public use and either retracted, withdrawn, or noted with concern.

Six officials at the Apex School of Theology orchestrated a scam to fraudulently claim $12 million in Federal student aid. The scheme involved recruiting fake students, forging fake applications for financial aid, as well as plagiarizing schoolwork and diplomas. FBI called the conspiracy a “blatant abuse of a Federally funded program” and “an insult to all taxpayers.

A professor emeritus at the University of Geneva discusses her main research topic: integrity sciences. During the interview, she documents the different profiles of what she calls "knowledge offenders". 

Twelve people have been sentenced to four years of prison after posing as students to take a Cambridge University-affiliated business English exam. The head of the criminal network is a former English teacher who has set up his exam preparation agency. Students were paired with similar-looking candidates so that their faces could be digitally blended to produce images that were then overlaid on the students' actual ID cards.

Corruption is “a pernicious undercurrent” in every country, writes a researcher at International Higher Education at Boston College. In Armenia, Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine, instructors face the dilemma of either ignoring cheating or taking the risk of dismissing students whose fees sustain the university. One study in Russia found that 72% of students in public universities had plagiarized from the internet. In India, the “survival of many small private universities depends on payments to government officials, recruiters and visiting committees, and fees paid by non-attending students”.

The principal of Zakir Husail Delhi College has been promoted to his current designation through dubious and fraudulent means. To meet the eligibility to the post of principal, he plagiarized his work, copied full papers of other authors without mentioning or giving credit. A letter of complaint signed by several academic council members has sent to University Grants Commission.

Transparency International Zimbabwe reports that many students are put under pressure to have sex for good grades, but when they bravely report this, justice is often hard to achieve. Sextortion in which sex, rather than money, is the currency of the bribe is not yet legally recognized as a form of corruption most universities in Zimbabwe do not have a clear policy for identifying and addressing such cases. There is no legal framework that recognizes sextortion as a form of corruption, and the police also have a limited understanding of it.

Senior staff from an academic institution allegedly embezzled Rs 1, 023 93 05 meant for the payment of employee’s state insurance and employee’s provident fund. Police are investigating the accused for criminal breach of trust, dishonest misappropriation of property and forgery for cheating purposes. Due to his lack of cooperation in the commission's proceedings, he was suspended from his role.