‘Australian code for the responsible conduct of research’
>> http://www.nhmrc.gov.au
Australia: The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Universities Australia have launched a revision version of a Code for Responsible Research. The purpose of the Code is to guide institutions and researchers in responsible research practices. It embraces topics such as managing data and materials; publication and dissemination of findings; attribution; peer review processes and conflict of interest.

1 February, ‘ADB blacklists 37 companies for corruption’ by Boris Demidov (Development Gateway)
>> www.developmentgateway.org
Philippines: Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has blacklisted 37 companies from dealings with it for up to 10 years for violating the bank's anti-corruption code. The bank does not disclose the identities of those it debars. It banned 34 firms for one to seven years and three firms for 10 years from competing for ADB contracts. Fourteen individuals were banned indefinitely and 17 for periods ranging from one to seven years.

4 February, ‘Provincial education ministers approve new textbook policy’ (UNPAN News) >> www.pakistanlink.com
Pakistan: The 11th Inter-provincial education ministers' meeting has approved a new textbook policy. This includes that the provincial textbook boards should invite book development proposals from all stakeholders concerned, including private publishers. Submitted books would be evaluated and ranked. The Ministry of Education will establish five resource centres in each textbook board for upgrading the capacity of small publishers.

16 February, ‘China to audit university heads to combat university corruption’ (China View) >> http://news.jongo.com
China: The Ministry of Education (MOE) has ordered the auditing of university heads from 2007. Analysts say the move is aimed at curbing corruption in universities after several embezzlement cases were uncovered in state universities recently. In 2006, former president of Tianjin University was removed from his position of deputy to the National People's Congress for his role in the school's loss of 12.8 million U.S. dollars.

9 March, 'Teaching kids young in fighting corruption' (Bayanihan)
>> www.bayanihan.org
Philippines: The Department of Education has organized a campaign to urged parents of public and private school students to join the government in its fight against corruption. The department has launched a new Graft and Corruption Prevention Education Teaching Exemplars (GCPETE) which will be used by public school teachers to integrate anti-graft and corruption lessons in values education for elementary and schools.

June 6, ‘Graft mars educational goals: UN’ (Deccan Herald)
>> http://www.deccanherald.com/
India: The IIEP/UNESCO report “Corrupt schools, corrupt universities: What can be done” has identified private tuition as a major source of “unethical behavior” in India, observing that it has become a major industry, consuming a considerable amount of parents’ money and pupils’ time. Together with private tuitions, two other major problems that face the Indian education system are the manipulation of entrance test scores and teachers absenteeism.

22 August, ‘UNE student ‘cheats’ could lose degrees, visas’ by Jennifer Macey (The World Today) >> http://www.abc.net.au
Australia: Students from the University of New England may have their degrees stripped from them if they're found guilty of cheating, and may also lose their Australian residency visa. The university has checked more than 200 master projects and found that a significant proportion of fee-paying foreign students had been involved in plagiarism.

2 February, ‘Russia sets out to fight corruption in education with a new standardized test’ by Maria Danilova (Associated Press)
>> www.signonsandiego.com
Russia: To reduce the use of bribes, the parliament has approved a nationwide, standardized multiple choice test for high school seniors. This would substitute for written and oral admission exams that now leave room for subjective grading – and bribes. The testing requirement is expected to come into force in 2009.

17 February, ‘Pay as You Go’ by Jessica Jacobson (TOL)
>> www.tol.cz
Kyrgyzstan: A student at a university in Osh is elected by his classmates to pay the bribes necessary for his classmates to get the grades they want. Typically, a student who chooses to buy an education pays about $40 to $50 per semester. Many professors are willing to accept bribes simply to meet basic needs. Salaries for teachers rarely exceed $100 a month.

1 February, ‘Rampant corruption 'threatens Russian stability' by Emma Griffiths (ABC News Online) >> www.abc.net.au
Russia: According to a report made by the public chamber, corruption is so widespread that it could threaten political stability in the country. Analysts say the scale of corruption is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Bribes are a daily drain on Russians - who pay from a few dollars for traffic infringements to thousands of dollars to ensure a good education for their child.

25 April, ‘What’s worth to you?’ by Igor Javanovic (Open Society Education News) >> http://www.tol.cz/
Serbia: One third of the professors of Kragujevac University Law School, its dean and the Minister’s assistant for Higher Education were arrested on corruption charges. Professors are accused of allowing students to pass exams without taking tests and selling degrees in exchange of bribes. This unprecedented corruption scandal casts doubts on the value of some law degrees and the qualification of some judges.

14 August, ‘Steps and Strumbles’ by Vasili Rukhadze (TOL-Open Education Society News) >> http://www.tol.cz/
Georgia: In Georgia, the Soviet legacy and the later collapse of state institutions produced an educational system plagued by corruption, nepotism, centralization and lack of teachers and professors. In addition, during the 90’s, private low-quality schools with titles like “university” and “institute” sprang up. Controversies have been raised after colleges and universities have been closed or merged, and thousands of academic and administrative positions abolished.

3 October, ‘Fire at Russian University kills 7 students, injures 39’ by Anna Nemtsova (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
>> http://chronicle.com
Russia: At least seven students died and 39 were injured when their university building was caught on fire. The accident occurred because the university, short of money, had rented out the building’s lower three floors as office space, blocking the fire exits. As the chief of fire control of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situation, declared, the university lacked fire alarms, so the emergency services were notified too late.

2 March ‘Cleaning up corruption in Nicaragua’s education ministry’ (Id21 Education) >> http://www.id21.org/education/e1la1g1.html
Nicaragua: A report from Fundación Grupo Civico Etica y Transparencia (EyT) was elaborated to show the results of the “Corruption Prevention in the Education System project”. After monitoring large construction contract processes related to the maintenance of schools in rural areas, EyT found that a significant part of the Ministry of Education’s public contracting budget had irregularities. It advised the Ministry to strengthen the quality control of materials and conduct regular internal audits.

8 March, ’Online cheats tell same old story in bid to get into university’ by James Meikle (The Guardian) >> http://education.guardian.co.uk
UK: Thousands of teenagers are trying to cheat their way into university by plagiarising stories and phrases from the internet. One in 20 of Britain's brightest young brains is copying material from the web according to a study done by the Universities and Colleges Admission Service.The study, which involved examining 50,000 personal statements, found that 5% used material from the internet, most from one free website, but direct copying of large chunks was rarer - less than 1%.

March,’ Education department is urged to explain loan subsidy’ by Jonathan Glater (The New York Times) >> www.nytimes.com
USA: The Education department must explain why it let a student loan company that an audit had found improper millions of dollars. The loan company received the payments through a subsidy program that guaranteed a 9.5 percent interest rate on student loans. In an accord reached in January, the department allowed it to keep the $278 million it had received but suspended future payments of more than $800 million until a future audit could determine whether the company was eligible for the money.

June, ‘Teaching: a vocation or financial goldmine?’ by Adi Bloom (Times Educational Supplement) >> http://www.tes.co.uk/2393694
UK: Few people enter the teaching profession for the money. Teachers repeatedly describe it as "a vocation", widely recognised as a euphemism for poorly paid. But for a few enterprising teachers, the education system is rife with opportunities for personal financial gain. A report on corruption in education, published this week by UNESCO highlights ways in which heads, teachers and education officials can extort and embezzle school funds.

19 June, ‘Minister’s MBA came from diploma mills’ by James Savage (The local) >> http://www.thelocal.se / http://insidehighered.com
Sweden: The Swedish labor minister listed on his resume on the government's website an M.B.A. taken at Fairfax University, which several US states listed as a so-called ‘degree mill’. The Minister said he earned the degree through distance learning while he worked in the United States, but the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education rejected it as an illegitimate credential. “We would not rate a degree taken there,” said the head of the Swedish department for evaluation of foreign qualifications.

September, ‘Auditors rejecting AP courses syllabuses’ by Jay Matthews (Washington post) >> http://www.washingtonpost.com
USA: After being audited by the College Board’s first quality-control of the Advance Placement program, some teachers have met with a surprising rejection of their courses. The results of the audit have rubbed the already bruised relationship between some high school AP teachers and the college professors who are evaluating them.

September, ‘Audit: Curtail wake principals’ power. An outside audit finds disparities in school resources that won’t be easy to fix’ by T. Keung Hui and Kinea White Epps (News & Observer)
>> http://www.newsobserver.col
USA: According to a report elaborated by auditors from a non profit group based in Indiana, County principals have too much power and should be reined in to improve education in the school district. In order to avoid disparities, auditors have recommended limiting principal’s powers and holding them for accountable for mistakes, as well as determing which decisions can be made at school level and which must be made by the central office.

8 September, ‘According to Transparency International corruption has declined in Africa and Eastern Europe’ (Le Monde)
>> www.lemonde.fr
France: The annual report of Transparency International on corruption perception worldwide shows that progress has been made in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. The report also underlines that corruption most afflicts the poorest countries where governance is nonexistent and that money acquired through corrupt practice often come from multinationals based in rich countries.

October, ‘Alleging political and ethical misconduct at high levels’ by John Gravois (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
>> http://chronicle.com
USA: Three former professors at Oral Roberts University have sued the evangelical institution in Tulsa (Okla) filing a petition in state court that accuses the university’s president of using university resources to back a local mayoral candidate and to pay for an extravagant lifestyle for his family. The university released a statement denying the allegations.