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Hundreds of WA University students have been caught cheating in exams and plagiarising course work. During the past three years, 545 students have been picked up for plagiarism at Curtin University, 304 at Murdoch, 270 at the University of WA and 182 at Edith Cowan University.

Different rules in different countries often make it harder for international students to understand what is and what isn't allowed. While a student may understand plagiarism, it can be difficult for them to grasp the concept of cheating.

Eight parents and teachers who used hi-tech equipment to help children cheat in Chinese college entrance exams have been sent to prison. They were given sentences of six months to three years after being found guilty of using mobile phones, tiny earpieces or mini scanners in order to obtain state secrets.

The University of Cauca uncovered what could be trickery in entrance exams to this year's first semester. It stated that the scores of 32 students in both assertive and non-assertive questions closely coincided. Among the doubtful candidates, 18 got into medicine, 4 into nursing, 2 into physiotherapy, and 2 into civil engineering.

Cheating is up more than 20 per cent at the country's biggest university. It have been identified 201 cases last year, compared to 166 in 2007, although the student roll remained steady at 38,550. Using cell phones, sneaking unauthorized notes and material, with unpermitted calculators, dictionaries and electronic devices and writing answers before exams started are some of the new and old methods for cheating.

Companies that employ graduates to write essays and complete assignments for undergraduates claim they are not undermining academic standards because cheating occurs only if the students pass off the work as their own, something they discourage. In the other hand, reduced contact hours between undergraduates and lecturers make it harder for staff to detect work that is out of line with the student's abilities or writing style.

Education found that students of Class 8 and 9 were answering question papers at an under-graduate exam in Azamgarh district with the help of invigilators. The investigators have also known that the students have taken money from the original aspirants who had paid them to get the paper solved.

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.

An associate dean of academic services spends a lot of time studying, lamenting and worrying about cheating in universities, but a Montreal-based online service that propels the activity to a new level made even her wince. The website unemployedprofessors.com has teachers writing papers for students. "So you can play while we make your papers go away" is its tag line.

New laws to clamp down on academic cheating at China's universities may be implemented as the rampant problems of plagiarism, falsification, lying about credentials and research papers, and other misconduct continue unabated in higher education. However, some experts have said that government-led anti-corruption campaigns are common at times of public dissatisfaction against the authorities, so as to appease the public.