Corruption in higher education is a growing global pandemic. This is observed in both developed and developing countries. It is estimated that fraudulent transactions in higher education institutions globally are at around $1.5 to $2.5 billion. The corruption chain starts from the top, in the political sector with leaders holding fraudulent degrees, to the diversion of higher education budgets, bureaucratic and administrative corruption in university management, academic dishonesty and sextortion.
Corruption in educational institutions undermines the very essence of the teaching and learning process. Source: Pinterest
The reason corruption has become more and more prevalent in the education industry is because a degree is seen as a bridge in numerous African communities, for access to good jobs, positions of power and other benefits. Moreover, the most prestigious higher education institutions are very exclusive and only accept a small percentage of the myriad applications they receive. This becomes a playground for exploitation at various angles of the law, both directly and indirectly.
It is extremely important to address this issue because higher education is the source of skilled labor and leadership. Higher education has the responsibility to produce graduates who can change and improve the status quo and develop the society. Corrupt practices in higher education breaks the link between hard work and reward, promoting the ideology of “ends justify means” that can further erode the integrity and cohesion in our society.
A survey of 7,000 young people (18-35 years of age) in East Africa found that 60% admitted they don't mind those who used get-rich quick schemes. More than half believed it does not matter how one makes money, while 53% said they would do anything to get money. A total of 37% would take or give a bribe, and 35% believed there is nothing wrong with corruption.
Pillars of Corruption in Higher Education Institutions
Political corruption
One of the most popular forms of political corruptions in the education sector is the granting of unearned credentials and qualifications to politicians, their kin and cronies.
Another sinister form of political corruption in some post-communist societies involves the states deliberately underpaying the working staff so they would get involved in corruption to compensate their income, then the evidence of their wrongdoings would be collected, they would be tracked down and forced to comply and support the regime or ruling power. This ensured the position of universities as tools of political socialization and enabled regimes to sustain themselves.
Academic fraudulence and plagiarism
Plagiarism and Essay Mills Plagiarism occurs when a person presents someone else’s ideas, phrases, sentences, or data as one’s own individual work and usually without giving credit. Self-plagiarism involves submitting work that one has previously submitted. The submission of term papers, theses and dissertations written by ghost-writers or so called contract cheating or “essay mills” has been reportedly rising over the past decade.
In numerous universities in East Africa the ghostwriting industry has been thriving, and it is extremely easy to commission a writing assignment. In Wandegeya, a suburb of Kampala near Makerere University in Uganda, numerous shop windows advertise “proposal writing services” for a fee.
Self-plagiarism is popular in higher education institutions. Students take short cuts to hire professionals who have sold the same work to numerous other students prior. Source: UH division of research
Another popular form of corruption in higher education institutions is examination fraudulence. This can take place in various forms such as leaking exams in advance, to impersonation where examination candidates pay other people to sit exams on their behalf, as well as alteration of marks either directly on the answer sheet or in the examination records management system. The latter is usually instigated by a bribe from a student to a lecturer or member of the administrative team.
In 2017, 88 staff members at Makerere University, Uganda were arrested for corruption in connection with the alteration of student grades and the issuance of fraudulent degrees. These alterations were made through the “backend” of the software program that was used to manage the examination records.
Sextortion and sexual harassment
The term “sextortion” as defined by the International Association of Women Judges is the abuse of power to obtain a sexual benefit or advantage. It is a form of corruption in which sex, instead of money, is the currency for the bribe. The possibilities of this happening is not limited to a particular sector or country but anywhere where those entrusted with power lack integrity and try to sexually exploit those who are vulnerable and dependent on their power.
Sexual harassment and exploitation in higher education institution is very prevalent. Women are affected by this issue twice the percentage of the cases reported by male students. (Photo source: American psychological association)
Sexual harassment of mostly female students and female lecturers by male lecturers and professors is considered a serious problem in higher education, Sadly the issue is not widely studied, and it is barely taken seriously especially in developing countries. In East African universities media reports and public outcries against sexual harassment are still very common.
How to Alleviate the Problem
The best way to get on top of the problem is to smoke the issue out from the inside. Based on the major corruption pillars discussed, several measures can be considered to deal with each issue respectively.
Political corruption
African universities need to take reference from other countries when it comes to identifying authentication of qualifications. This is highly important since there have been numerous records of false credentials from political and institutional leaders. The proliferation of diploma and degree mills make it imperative to authenticate and verify academic credentials.
This requires concerted efforts by higher education regulatory agencies across the globe. For example, Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission and China’s Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center conduct qualification verification manually and online. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is implementing a sophisticated digital method involving a unique pin code to check against a database. A scratch-card is sent with the student’s application and can be scratched to reveal a serial number and one-use pin number to access or verify the student’s official examination record online.
Similarly, the Malaysian government recently launched an online database that enables the verification of doctoral degrees. All in all, countries and universities in Eastern Africa should work together to establish centralized databases that employers and other institutions can use to check the validity of certificates and diplomas.
Plagiarism
In order to fight the issue of fraudulence and plagiarism measures such as changing assessment methods and supplementing student assessment with presentations and oral examinations can help the student to make their way up their grade and not have to fully rely on one sided results that are summed up through a single high stake paper essay.
Alternatively, assessment that builds on the student’s own experiences, classwork, prior drafts, and feedback is more challenging to ghostwrite. Overall, understanding the root causes of plagiarism is the key to craft the appropriate solution. Education has become a very high stake affair, and students face enormous pressures to succeed from their families. Supporting students to do their best rather than failure and recrimination will help to create a balanced ideology of education and success.
Sexual harassment
Although special policies for sexual harassment have been introduced in numerous Universities, they have never been enforced due to different issues. For example, the Makerere University in Uganda enacted a Policy and Regulations on Sexual Harassment Prevention in 2006, but only one case had ever been reported and preceded through the framework created under the policy.
Recently UN Women have been piloting a new initiative to promote gender parity in universities under the HeForShe campaign. The initiative considers combating sexual harassment as a necessary part of improving gender parity at universities. HeForShe is a global effort to engage men and boys in removing the social and cultural barriers that prevent women and girls from achieving their potential, and thus attempt to reshape society. This is a global campaign that also includes Universities in Eastern Africa such as the University Of Dar Es salaam and the University of Dodoma in Tanzania.
At the end, one hopes that these initiatives help fight corruptive tendencies that poison the developmental rivers which ruin the streams leading to national and regional growth.
