Combatting corruption in higher education in Ukraine

Corruption is a widespread phenomenon at Ukrainian higher education
institutions (HEIs), with more than a quarter of students reporting participation
in corrupt activities. This paper explores the dominant forms of corruption in
Ukrainian public universities and proposes ways to combat corruption at the
HEI level. For this, we analyse data from national authorities and civil society on
corruption in the education sector. A subsequent corruption mapping identifies
three of the most common corruption schemes: entrance examinations, grade
attainment throughout university education, as well as administrative
corruption. The paper closes with a set of policy recommendations to a) collect
more data and conduct further research; b) increase transparency in the
Ukrainian HEIs; c) conduct information campaigns and encourage participation
of the civil society; d) increase oversight of HEIs; e) create a better reward and
punishment mechanism system for HEI employees; f) standardise exams in the
written form; and g) encourage academic freedom.