YouTube stars are being paid to sell academic cheating, a BBC investigation has found. More than 250 channels are promoting EduBirdie, based in Ukraine, which allows students to buy essays, rather than doing the work themselves. YouTube said it would help creators understand they cannot promote dishonest behaviour. The BBC Trending investigation uncovered more than 1,400 videos with a total of more than 700 million views containing EduBirdie adverts selling cheating to students and school pupils.

A student at Peking University, China’s top institution, has been allowed to return to the campus after being barred for days for asking questions about campus sexual harassment and rape cases dating back to the 1990s. A student at the School of Foreign Languages at Peking University (PKU), together with seven other students, had lodged a freedom of information request to the university on Shen Yang, a former PKU professor accused of sexual misconduct while at PKU in the 1990s. PKU has said in recent days it will do more to prevent sexual harassment, and that it had “zero tolerance” for violations of students’ rights.

The excitement that marks the beginning of the academic year in the Algerian higher education sector, belies a crisis of credibility in the wake of several recent incidents of cheating. Last October, teachers in the faculty of economics at the University of Algiers disclosed the names of students accused of cheating in a doctoral entrance examination, but thus far no action against the students has been reported in the media. In a city east of Algeria two masters examinations were cancelled in October after model answers were leaked, while in the west, four doctoral projects in the faculty of arts and literature were nullified following complaints of academic dishonesty.

Thousands of UK nationals have bought fake degrees from a multi-million pound "diploma mill" in Pakistan, a BBC Radio 4's File on Four programme investigation has found. Buyers include NHS consultants, nurses and a large defence contractor. One British buyer spent almost £500,000 on bogus documents. The Department for Education said it was taking "decisive action to crack down on degree fraud" that "cheats genuine learners

Universities are being urged to block websites that sell essays, identify cheating "hot spots" and consider publishing data on breaches of academic integrity. As universities grapple with a rise in contract cheating – which involves students outsourcing assessments – Australia's higher education watchdog has unveiled new guidelines to tackle the issue. A recent survey by a University of South Australia associate professor who helped create the guidelines, found that 6 per cent of Australian students engaged in cheating.

Doctors, registrars and psychiatrists at some of Sydney's top hospitals have cheated in their medical exams through collusion and sharing illicit photos of examination papers. Documents obtained by Fairfax Media show that some former students of the University of Sydney's medical program have been colluding since at least 2009, with illicit materials such as photographs of examination papers still being shared with current students in the psychiatry, paediatrics and community departments of Sydney's most prestigious medical school.