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The Supreme Court of Pakistan last week ordered the removal of a number of university vice-chancellors because they were appointed in violation of the merit-based system. In stern remarks on 22 April over the appointment of vice-chancellors in Punjab province, Pakistan’s Chief Justice said “The Supreme Court cannot tolerate any appointment without transparency as the state of education in the province is in complete disarray,” and that the appointments were not the most senior professors but had close links with government circles.

The Association of African Universities (AAU) has identified corruption and threats to officials of accreditation bodies as some of the issues affecting the quality of some higher education institutions across the continent. “Because of corruption, some universities that are owned by ‘the rich and famous’ as well as politicians just get opened without the minimum requirements. Some accreditation bodies also face threats if they refuse to open unbefitting institutions,”. The AAU is preparing to implement the regional recognition of higher education qualifications across Africa .

A new report by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has revealed how most allegations of corruption in federal universities have neither been thoroughly investigated nor punished. The report titled: ‘Stealing the future: How federal universities in Nigeria have been stripped apart by corruption’ said: “Impunity for corruption in the university system has negatively affected the governance of federal universities and the quality of education received by the students.”

Member of the committee on education and scientific research of the House of Representatives called for installing cameras in all examination halls at Egyptian universities to prevent cheating and lack of discipline. He will send the proposal to the Ministry of Higher Education as cameras will prevent and detect the growing incidents of mass copying by students and reveal any problem that would happen between students and monitors in the exam. This move is part of Egypt’s efforts to enhance the quality of the country’s university education and to deter churning out low quality graduates especially since the country’s examination system has been plagued by cheating over the recent years especially in high schools.

The Higher Education Ministry of Oman has banned four Malaysian universities due to alleged academic and administrative abuses by the varsities. In total, there are 378 Omani students enrolled in the four universities. The Times of Oman, in its report, stated that the Committee for the Recognition of Non-Omani Higher Education Institutions and the Equivalence of Educational Qualifications in the Oman Higher Education Ministry had issued a decision to stop dealing with these universities. It said Omani students were not allowed to attend the educational institutions following the decision. Representatives from one of the universities claim that the Ministry’s action is ‘unwarranted’.

Although there has been an enormous expansion in higher education in India over the past 30 years there is still a huge problem around quality. In 2013 the Indian government launched a new higher education improvement programme. Australian universities can help by: training staff, rooting out corruption, sharing knowledge on access, and establishing research partnerships.

The National Commission on Higher Education says students seeking enrollment in universities in the country should inquire whether such institutions are registered with the Ministry of Education. The commission’s Director General said these fake or substandard universities offer degrees in various professions at poor quality to students.