Corruption: Public Enemy #1

The most widely recognized problem of Ukrainian HEIs is corruption. It is also by far the most visible. One reason behind this visibility is the "media- friendly" nature of corruption related scandals, which leads to endless stories about bribes paid to pass exams, improve grades or gain access to coveted positions. The seriousness of the issue is highlighted by embarrassingly high-profile cases of government officials with questionable or even fake diplomas, including a Simferopol city official with a diploma from a non-existent university and a deputy head of the SBU, the state security service, with a non-existent degree from Taras Shevchenko University.

However, corruption does not always take the form of underhanded transactions. There is a great deal of ambiguity about the common practice of offering private tutoring – some extravagantly priced –, by professors who later administer oral examinations to those same students. While unprofessional, this procedure is not illegal in Ukraine: some professors even register their "consulting" activities officially.

In 2008, the Ministry of Education implemented an external independent standardized test whose aim is to eliminate corruption in the post-secondary admission process. Public universities are particularly sensitive to admissions-related corruption, on account of the two-tier admissions system, with free or state-funded places and tuition-paying ones. The new test is intended to eliminate bribes for securing the state-funded places. While this is a welcome initiative, numerous concerns have been raised about the validity of the test as a measure of future student performance. Cases of corruption continue to be reported and some institutions refuse to acknowledge the test, conducting parallel oral examinations or "interviews" to determine admission.

One of the factors behind the high level of corruption is the apparent complacency of those involved. Surveys have shown that close to 30% of students are inclined to use bribery as a way to improve grades, while a further 15% let friends know if such options exist. While this leaves a substantial amount of non-cheating students, only 3-8%, depending on the region, stated that they would inform officials of incidents of bribery. The system is comfortable for many students, who either have jobs or simply don't care about their studies, leading some of them to lash out against corruption prevention hotlines, as they make bribery more difficult and expensive!

Although the bribes, extortion and embezzlement are the most visible facets of corruption in Ukraine, they are not the only and, arguably, not the most serious forms. More "covert" issues include various kinds of favoritism and plagiarism. Moreover, many state-owned HEI have vast possessions, often linked to campuses (but not only), making corrupt practices all the more lucrative. While the explicit corruption can be linked to poor oversight mechanisms, organizational problems, and financial and material shortages – which, to the government's merit, have been begun to be addressed with relative success –, they are not the most dangerous to higher education in Ukraine in the long term. Indeed, the intangible nature of the "covert" factors makes them extremely hard to root out. They are pervasive and will compromise HEIs as partners in projects involving business, government, or other educational institution

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