Corruption in Higher Education: US, Russia, UK

Abstract

Corruption in higher education is a newly emerging topic in the field of education research. Some aspects of corruption in education have been addressed in the resent works by Eckstein (2003), Hallak and Poisson (2002, 2007), Heyneman (2004, 2007, 2008), Noah & Eckstein (2001), Osipian (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010), Segal (2004), and Washburn (2005). However, the rigorous systematic research is lacking. This paper considers corruption in higher education in the media, following publications in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation. It addresses the differences in forms of corruption across the nations pointing to how exactly they differ and why. Major findings point to the following: some forms of corruption are region-specific while others are universal; types of corruption are connected to the characteristics of the national systems; the general trend in the media attention reflects growing concern about corruption in academia; in the US more attention is now paid to fraud, plagiarism and cheating, while in Russia to bribery in admissions. The findings help to determine which aspects of corruption in higher education should be given more consideration in the future research and which ones might be prioritized, as well as how the national systems of higher education can be improved.