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In order to cope with the assessment demands of rapidly growing student numbers, and rising incidents of grade tampering and cheating, many African universities are exploring the option of e-exams. While the traditional systems can go as far as bribe-taking by lecturers, invigilators and supervisors as well as examination leakages, e -exams might not be suitable for testing skills like synthesizing information, understanding evidence, critical problem-solving.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) arrested a third-year medical student and another undergraduate for attempting to write the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for candidates. According to the board’s Head of Media and Information, a medical student was caught at the Rainbow Digital Tech centre, one of the centres for the examination in Kano, trying to impersonate by trying to sit for the examination for a candidate.

In order to strengthen the integrity of the examination results, the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board arrested no fewer than 100 candidates nationwide for various examination malpractices. Among the people arrested was a candidate who registered 64 times to ‘ghost write’ exam for 64 candidates since the exam runs for seven days with an average of three shifts per day per centre.

Higher Education Degree Datacheck (Hedd), which monitors fake degrees, has recorded 243 fake institutions. Manchester Open University advertised degrees for fees up to £35,000 on its website and claimed to have a campus on Oxford Road, with 2,000 students from 90 different countries studying degrees in history, English and medicine. Officials were unable to find a trace of the institution. The Oxbridge University of Kilmurry, providing master's degrees, doctorates and professional qualifications on its website is registered in the Gambia.

The T.M. Landry College Preparatory School in Louisiana is under federal investigation over its college admissions practices, transcripts with fake grades, non-existent school clubs and fictitious classes. Many students accused the founder of the school of abusing them and falsifying their transcripts. The court records reveal that he was accused of choking and dragging a student. In the investigation, the founder said that wall-sits and kneeling were used to motivate students and prepare them for the challenges of the real world.

Three teachers were placed in prison for conspiracy and examination malpractice. They disobeyed the Uganda Examinations Board’ code of conduct and revealed the content of the 2018 Primary Leaving Examinations paper and then sold them to different schools in Buyende and Kamuli districts.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents the seven largest qualification providers in the UK, commissioned an independent report into exam malpractice. Police are investigating an exam leak after a number of students had advance sight of part of a General Certificate of Secondary Education religious studies paper. Another A-level maths paper was offered for sale via social media. Two questions from the paper first appeared on Twitter, offering students the whole paper for £70.

The number of students disciplined for academic misconduct at the University of Auckland rose to 195 last year, from 187 the year before. Cheating incidents reported have highlighted concerns about the reuse of assignments and the fact that ghostwriters undermine school integrity. According to the Tertiary Education Union president, university bosses should support teaching staff to implement the best anti-cheating measures such as changing assignments frequently and requiring students to submit their work through detection service Turnitin.