1-10 of 63 results

  • Newspaper

    Reform in Mexico forces debate on sale of teaching positions

    Mexico

    Press

    Jeffrey Puryear - Latin America Advisor

    Teaching positions are for sale in Mexico, and have been for decades. Although seldom discussed, the practice—established by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to reward party loyalists—is apparently widespread. The going price for a teaching position in a public primary school is reported to be between $5,000 and $12,000, depending on locale. Teachers who resign can either sell their positions or pass them on to their children. In at least some cases, local governments and the teachers' union supervise the buying and selling process. However, a recent reform effort—the "Alliance for Education Quality" (ACE)—signed by the government and the national teachers' union in May, would base new teacher appointments on merit, via an examination administered by an independent body. Not surprisingly, it has generated a vociferous response at the grass-roots level. Teachers have gone on strike in many states, marching on government offices, closing schools and blocking streets.

  • Newspaper

    Universities asked to provide digital copy of each PhD thesis

    Pakistan

    Press

    - The Nation

    The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has asked all the universities of the country to provide a digital or computerised copy of the theses submitted by the students doing M Phil or PhD, so that it can upload all the theses on its website and an automatic check established. According to sources HEC have asked universities managements to warn postgraduate students that plagiarism would result in their degrees being cancelled. More than 5,000 people have been awarded PhD degree from various universities of the country out of which 1,000 have been uploaded on HEC website.

  • Newspaper

    Doors opening, doors slamming

    Turkmenistan

    Press

    Stefan Mitas - TOL

    Despite the promises of great reforms in education made by the new President, the Soviet system is still running. Many allege that the bureaucrats involved in the renovations of schools frequently sign dual contracts with foreign construction companies, deliberately designed to allow a huge portion of the reported contract costs to disappear. Moreover, bribes are still viewed as a secondary prerequisite for university admission after one's scores on standardized entrance examinations.

  • Newspaper

    When criminals control the Ministry of Education

    Liberia

    Press

    George D. Gollin - Worldnews

    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.

  • Newspaper

    Clipping the wings of degree mills in Nigeria

    Nigeria

    Press

    Peter Okebukola - International Higher Education

    From 1995 to 2001, Nigerian degree mills produced annually about 15 percent of total university graduates in the country. In the past 9 years, a flurry of activity has been directed at eradicating the degree mills. In 1999, the National Council on Education (NUC) directed the closure of all local and foreign satellite campuses. It also partnered with the Department of State Services (Nigeria's secret service) in locating, arresting, and prosecuting operators of unapproved universities and satellite campuses. Finally, it directed approved universities to make full disclosure of their programs, which have been listed in the Directory of Approved Programmes in the Nigerian University System.

  • Newspaper

    President's alma mater in quality dispute

    Russian Federation

    Press

    Helen Womack - University World News

    Since taking over the Kremlin last month, President Medvedev, has made it a priority to combat what he calls "legal nihilism" in Russia. A campaign has begun to clean the courts of bribe-taking judges and letters from members of the public, complaining about corruption, have been published on the Kremlin website. Reporting on the results at St. Petersburg, the daily Kommersant said that 83 out of 200 students in the law faculty had failed their state examinations. Some who had received grade 2, the lowest mark, had been expecting to leave with "red diplomas" or distinctions. Among those who failed were students who had paid fees.

  • The Four stages of addressing plagiarism

    In Finland, The National Advisory Board on Research Ethics published a document "Good scientific practice and procedures for handling misconduct and fraud in science" in 2002. All universities have agreed to follow the exact procedures defined in the...

    Moore, Erja

    2008

  • Newspaper

    The State determined to eradicate corruption and fraud in the education

    Guinea

    Press

    - IRIN

    For the very first time in Guinea, professors were suspended by their functions for facts of corruption and the students were condemned to pay a fine or to a prison sentence for fraud in the examinations. During his taking of office, Mr Souaré, Minister of the Higher education and the scientific research - who arises from the labor union of the teachers and which fought in the past against the corruption - had indicated that it would make of the fight against the fraud and the corruption its first priority.

  • Newspaper

    The general inspection questions the value of university degrees

    France

    Press

    - La lettre de l'éducation

    According to the report of the general inspection of the administration of the national education and the research (IGAENR), the evaluation of the students at the university is not good. Actually, the fragmentation of the evaluations (due to the transition to the half yearly of the studies connected to the passage in the LMD) and the complexity of rules, return the illegible system for the students. It also entails disparities of treatment; thus universities develop their own rules of evaluation: the faculties with big workforce opt for the multiple choice question paper, faster and easy to organize. Besides, the cheating is another factor that undermine the credibility of the diplomas: according to the questioned students, between 25 and 50 % of the students resort to it.

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