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US public universities recorded about five cases of alleged cheating for every 100 foreign students, and only one for every 100 domestic students, in the 2014-15 academic year. In the United Kingdom students from overseas – from outside the European Union – are more than four times as likely to cheat. Many of these cheating students come from countries with endemic corruption or with significantly different academic cultures and standards. Universities should acknowledge this problem and allocate all necessary resources to mitigate academic misconduct involving students.

Diploma mills have been on the United States radar screen as far back as 1876. Today, credential fraud in higher education is a billion-dollar industry, by some accounts. It has spiralled into a major threat for employers and university admissions offices. And it spans the globe. The United States is home to the largest number of diploma mills, with more than 1,000 known operations in 2011, according to Verifile, a UK-based pre-employment screening company.

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.

A few predatory universities are looking for Arab students eager to study online cheaply, an Al-Fanar Media investigation has found. The “universities” try to seduce prospective students with offers of scholarships that are, in fact, just a way to pry money out of them.

Last September, a declaration aimed at mainstreaming ethics and anti-corruption in higher education was endorsed by the 68 member universities of the Compostela Group of Universities and subsequently also by the World University Consortium and the World Academy of Art and Science, a global network of 700+ university