The position of Director of the International Human Rights Programme at the University of Toronto was offered to an "academically unworthy" individual after US$8 million was donated to the university's medical schools. A US banking company, which reportedly made large donations through its foundation to at least 60 universities, demanded to teach a course from a particular political perspective. As a result, colleges and universities in North America are developing written policies to prevent undue influence from donors.

Examination standards are virtually impossible to reinforce in a distance-learning environment where hundreds of students are simultaneously online. The Dean of the University of Crete’s literature department reports that it is easy for students to Google exam answers even under the eye of supervisors on camera. A 20- year-old student said that one of her friends gave 100 euros to a teacher to sit for her math exam. Similarly, a 20-year-old psychology student took exams on behalf of 2 of her friends and nobody realized.

Two Kwekwe High School teachers have been suspended after they allegedly asked parents for money to secure Form One places for their children. The matter only became public on the school's opening day, when the school authorities discovered that there was an extra class of 30 students, prompting the headmaster to launch an investigation.

A recent report from Public Accounts Committee reveals the theft of billions of taxpayers' money pocketed by corrupt officials and school heads. The Mundeku Secondary School is one of the 4 ghost schools in the Ministry records with 1,188 students used by an official to steal Sh27,329,598.95 from public funds. The report found another officer inflating enrolment data for 185 schools, resulting in the overpayment of Sh269, 254,288. The cases have been submitted to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation.

The National Accountability Bureau has opened an investigation against the Higher Education Commission(HEC) Chairman for corruption, irregularities, mismanagement and appointment of consultants. Dozens of consultants were hired based on the high salaries of directors, some of whom were not only retired but also fresh graduates. According to University officials, the alleged HEC chairman was bullied for trying to mend a broken system.

A survey on plagiarism conducted by Copyleaks collected responses from 31,000 colleges and 20,000 high school students worldwide. The study shows that the largest increase in plagiarized submissions was recorded in the Netherlands, with 26% of cases before COVID compared to 45% after the pandemic, i.e. a total increase of 19%. This was followed by France (37% before vs. 49% after, i.e. - a 12% jump), closely followed by India (42% before vs. 53% after; i.e.- an 11% jump). The UK, Canada and Germany all saw a 4% increase in plagiarism cases.

The Taiwanese startup, TuringChain offers educational institutions, students, and enterprises a new way of certification and authentication with the blockchain-powered solution TuringCerts. According to its CEO, a quarter of all data on LinkedIn is fake or exaggerated, while 27% of degrees can be bought online. TuringCerts’ creates an anti-counterfeit e-portfolio for students, and educational institutions receive a digital cache, which they can use to issue certificates.TuringCerts uses Smart Identification and protects digital certificates from manipulation.

The “proliferation” of essay mills over the past 5 years has led to an increase in the number of plagiarism cases. Last year, 338 cases were reported by universities in the North, with the majority of cases at Aberdeen University and Robert Gordon University. 1,000 essay mills companies are currently operating across the UK. Some are allegedly involved in exploiting graduates overseas where they are forced to work 12-hour shifts producing essays for as little as $1 an hour.

A recent study warns policy-makers in developing countries about the poor quality of research evaluation. The findings show the infiltration of journals suspected of predatory practices into the citation database Scopus. 324 journals that appear both in Beall’s lists and on Scopus and 164,000 articles published from 2015-17 were identified. As a result, the Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board removed underperforming journals.

To help combat cheating and plagiarism during the pandemic and to encourage studying and preparedness a University of Prince Edward Island professor developed the testing method called TSINC. This method stands for time-pressed, sequential, individualized, not searchable, and calibrated. Each student receives a unique exam of 50 question orders, with 30 minutes to answer which they are not allowed to go back to.