The recent rise of East Asian universities has greatly impressed the academic world. However, a number of terms have been used to describe the academic culture in East Asian universities, such as integrity, ethics, misconduct and even corruption. Academic culture has been cited as a significant impediment for East Asian higher education to reach a leading status in the world. The toxic academic culture is another expression of East Asia’s greatest challenge: universities have not yet figured out how to combine the 'standard norms' of Western higher education with traditional values.

The 36 government-run universities in South Korea scored 5.88 out of 10 in a corruption survey by a state-run watchdog on Wednesday, marking a modest improvement from the year before, but indicating an ethical lapse in the research lab in particular. In order to measure the level of corruption, the study looked at factors such as research, administration and contracting with outside vendors. It also examined the frequency of corruption scandals as well as any other act that might compromise the credibility of the institutions.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) launched a report on the Free Primary Education (FPE) programme, after the Ministry of Education revealed that most schools cannot account for the funds. According to the EACC Chief Executive Officer, the report will help in ensuring accountability in public schools, given that heads of schools will be required to detail how every shilling allocated by the government is spent.

First, there was the #OromoProtest which led to the cancelation by the government in Ethiopia of the Ethiopia Higher Education Entrance Exam (EHEEE), which was scheduled to take place as of May 30. The leaking by unknown individuals and the dumping on the social media by Oromo activists of this national school leaving exam has now sparked a debate amongst Ethiopia’s net-citizens, and the media. Surprisingly (or not for that matter) the debate is on whether or not leaking the exams and dumping them online trespasses the moral obligation of safeguarding the academic lives of more than 250, 000 students who were readying to sit for the exams.

Teachers must abide by the code of conduct and ethics that have been developed by their employers, the anti-corruption watchdog has said. “Compliance with the ethical and integrity standard set under these law is a duty and not a choice. No sector or individual is at liberty to choose what provisions of the law to apply to them,” said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) chief executive officer. Teachers have rejected attempts to have their their income and assets audited while in service and on exit by by their employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

Most scientists and medical researchers behave ethically. However, in recent years, the number of high-profile scandals in which researchers have been exposed as having falsified their data raises the issue of how we should deal with research fraud. There is little scholarship on this subject that crosses disciplines and engages with the broader phenomenon of unethical behaviour within the domain of research. This is partly because disciplines tend to operate in silos and because universities, in which researchers are often employed, tend to minimise adverse publicity.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is in talks with HRD Ministry, CBSE, AICTE, Medical Council of India (MCI) and other educational bodies to introduce course content on corruption and ethics to make the students aware of the scourge and its consequences. If implemented, students in schools and colleges will soon be imparted lessons on the menace of corruption, its debilitating impact on socio-economic sphere and ways of tackling it.