GLOBAL WARNING: International organizations issued a wake-up call to higher education worldwide—especially quality assurance bodies—to fight academic corruption. A new advisory statement from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) comes in response to “increasing frequency of press reports on corrupt practices in the higher education sector,” including publishing false recruitment advertising and awarding degree-granting powers in exchange for bribes.
The 28-page advisory statement includes examples of corruption and corresponding preventive actions. “The needs of societies cannot be met if graduates do not have the competencies that HEIs [higher-education institutions] purport to have given them,” the document says. The international bodies also stress the importance of including students in processes to eliminate corruption.
