8,029 Dravidian University PhDs rigged

January 14th, 2011
Deccan Chronicle Correspondent

Extract:
Jan. 13: The state government is all set to cancel 8,029 PhDs awarded by the Dravidian University over the last two academic years.

While universities like Osmania and Andhra, which have been functioning for decades, registered less than 500 PhDs, the government was shocked that the 10-year-old Dravidian University awarded thousands of PhDs in a single academic year. continue reading

On the same shelf:

Follow norms, V-Cs told
Special Correspondent, The Hindu Jan 14, 2011

HYDERABAD: Minister for Higher Education Damodar Rajnarsimha has sent a strong signal to the Vice-Chancellors to follow the norms with regard to admissions strictly or else stringent action will be taken against them.

The Minister was speaking after the Dravidian University Vice-Chancellor C. Ramanaiah met him to explain the allegations of irregularities over the large scale Ph.D admissions. The university has admitted over 8,000 candidates for the Ph.D programme in just two years. continue reading

Germany's Ph.D. Scandal: Were Degrees Bought?

• Germany's Ph.D. Scandal: Were Degrees Bought?
  
  By Tristana Moore / Berlin Friday, Aug. 28, 2009, Time.com
  "Getting a Ph.D. is the pinnacle of academic achievement, but appears that some aspiring students in Germany may have bribed their way to the top. On Aug. 22, German prosecutors revealed that they are investigating around 100 academics at some of the country's top universities on the suspicion that they granted doctorates to dozens of unqualified students after taking bribes from a consultancy firm. The scandal has shaken Germany's higher education system, revered abroad as one of the best in Europe.
  
  
  The investigation follows a raid on an academic consultancy called the Institute for Scientific Counselling in the western town of Bergisch Gladbach in March 2008. At the time, the authorities uncovered a mine of information pointing to illegal activity and confiscated thousands of files, including contracts between the firm and lecturers, and evidence of bank transfers. Prosecutors in the city of Cologne say the institute helped doctoral candidates find a supervisor and paid lecturers to take on Ph.D. students. "Some Ph.D. students paid up to $30,000 to get their doctor titles," Günther Feld, a senior prosecutor in Cologne tells TIME. "Many people had received mediocre results in exams and they weren't eligible to do a Ph.D. in the first place." ... continue reading
  
  See also: Germany: 100 professors suspected of Ph.D. bribes (AP): here