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The Education CS wants universities selling degrees to politicians de-registered. He said the government is planning a major shake-up in higher education, including a crackdown on private universities, from next year. "I am happy now that councils have began to bite and strip people of their degrees. We would like to see more universities do that together with CUE and the Education ministry," he said on Monday during the AMFREF graduation ceremony. The crackdown will target institutions operating contrary to the statutory provisions guiding the higher education sector. Among those targeted are those operating on letters of interim authority beyond the statutory period.

Concerned over fake universities duping students in the country, a Parliamentary panel has sought "exemplary" action against such bodies and those who violate UGC guidelines. In another significant observation, the panel focused on issues related to corruption in All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The panel recommended that the HRD ministry improve the accountability and strengthen vigilance mechanism in AICTE.

Academic fraud such as bribery, bogus universities and falsified research findings is hardly a new phenomenon but it seems to be escalating worldwide, prompting quality assurance professionals meeting last week in Washington, DC to grapple with how, if at all, they can help combat the problem. No consensus was reached, but a prevailing view emerged that the potential consequences, if left unchecked, are dire.

Academic fraud has consequences for students and society in general. According to one professor, the subject of corruption has been a big debate for many years in Cuba, but that forms of corruption evolve as the means of change.

Turkey has suspended its recognition of Bulgarian university diplomas. The Turkish University Education Council made this decision on the grounds of high levels of academic forgery, fraud and exam cheating in Bulgaria. Bulgaria's Education Minister has admonished the Bulgarian media for provoking an international scandal, claiming that the problematic diplomas were forged by Turkish citizens.

India's education ministry appears to have hit a snag in its anticorruption campaign. The Supreme Court ordered the federal government to conduct a review of 44 "deemed universities" that the ministry had stripped of university status last February.

In 2002, the Liberian embassy's deputy chief of mission began his fraudulent transactions with American owners of St Regis diploma mill. They agreed to sell Liberian university accreditation to "St Regis University" for $2,250. They then decide to create two other diploma mills: Robertstown and James Monroe. By the end of 2003, Liberian officials under their sway included senior diplomats in at least two embassies, a minister of justice, a foreign minister, two successive directors of Liberia's National Commission for Higher Education, and a number of other diplomats and government officials, including several at the Ministry of Education. The United States Secret Service finally unveiled their embezzlement.