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A high-ranking Department of Education employee used his position to rip off $5 billion from the Government money that should have been spent on public schools. According to the State's anti-corruption, watchdog IBAC, for 7 years he covered his tracks by organizing fake invoices sent from companies owned by him and his friends and family that did not do any work.

The FBI announced that the former Education Secretary has been charged with allegations that she used her position to give 1,034 square feet of a school to a company in exchange for financial benefits. If found guilty, she could face sentences of up to 10 years for conspiracy and bribery, and up to 20 years for wire fraud.

The FBI arrested the former education secretary along with six people engaged in a public corruption campaign from which they profited at the expense of the Puerto Rico citizens and students. The alleged fraud involved $15.5 million in federal money spent between 2017 and 2019. The education secretary is accused of steering contracts toward her friends without going through regular procedures.

There have been issues of cronyism, nepotism, and corruption in the Ministry of Education, subject to performance audits focused on adherence to the Government’s procurement guidelines and contracts management. According to the opposition leader, the allegations are related to the misuse of public funds and to the “politically connected” persons who have been employed by the education ministry as advisers, “but are not doing any work”.

University officials have been accused of misleading an Oireachtas committee over the way they run their financial affairs. Senior officials from colleges including University of Limerick, DIT and University College Cork appeared before the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee on Thursday to answer allegations over unauthorised severance packages, conflicts of interest and poor corporate governance. In one episode, officials at the university of Limerik paid severance packages to two staff due to ‘employment relationships breaking down’, but then went on to re-employ both individuals as consultants.

The association representing Canada’s university professors has condemned Carleton University’s board of governors for a new policy that will ban board members from speaking publicly about the meetings they attend. The professors say the move is a violation of transparency and openness that is fundamental to academic freedom. The board has also moved to ban faculty and student union representatives from sitting on the board, claiming they are in conflict of interest.