Above: The Feed presents an exclusive undercover investigation into the underground world of academic cheaters.
The US tertiary education community was rocked this morning when over 50 people - including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin - were charged over what's being called the largest college admissions scam ever.
Loughlin, for example, allegedly forked out $500,000 to have both her daughters admitted to University of Southern California as 'designated recruits' to the rowing team - though neither girl rowed.
Just how deep the scandal has run - and how high the profile of those involved - has got the internet up in arms, reigniting the debate over class and access to education in the United States.
But The Feed wants to know... could it happen here?
NEPOTISM AND AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES
Australia is no stranger to scandal when it comes to our tertiary education system.
In 2013, the University of Queensland was reviewed by the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) after the university offered a publicly-funded medicine scholarship to the daughter of then-Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield.
The report found that, "Not only did the VC's daughter not satisfy the entrance requirements for the course, but that 343 other applicants who were ranked above her based on merit did not receive an offer of a place."
No criminal charges were laid, but Greenfield and then deputy Vice-Chancellor Michael Keniger stepped down from their roles following the report.
COULD SOMEONE CRACK AN AUSSIE UNI?
According to some of Australia's top universities, it would be pretty hard to game the system - but it's not out of the question.
"We never see the name of a student, it's all on a computer," UNSW Vice-Chancellor Professor Merlin Crossley told The Feed.
It's impossible to say it could never happen but our system is more robust because it's centralised.
New South Wales and ACT university admissions are governed by the Universities Admission Center, which distributes student's ATAR scores.
"A lot of people criticize the ATAR system for being impersonal and coming down to numbers, a lot of those criticisms are fair but our system is more resistant to interference than more discretionary systems."
In other states, like Queensland, a similar system called OP (Overall Performance) is set in place to ensure that students are accepted on merit and not influence.
Queensland University of Technology Provost Professor Carol Dickenson says that places where there is chance to cheat the system are especially scrutinized.
Where some vulnerability might occur is where direct admissions are involved,
"To combat this weakness we've reduced the number that we take to around 100 per year. Most of them are performance based and if any of them have conflict of interests, such as being related to the applicant, moves are taken and often the person will be removed from the decision."
In the case of international students, a massive income to Australian universities, even more scrutiny is applied and consequences are swift.
"We scrutinise the genuineness of documentation and systematically sample a proportion of the qualifications of each incoming newly commencing cohort to undertake further verification checks," a spokesperson for Sydney University told The Feed.
"Where fraud is detected we always cancel the offer or, if already accepted, the enrolment of the applicant or student concerned."
