Research and investigation into corruption and control of corruption in the higher education sector

Corruption in higher education has become an important form of corruption in contemporary China. This research is built on the basis of a questionnaire-based investigation into the following three groups: cadres in higher education, students in higher education, and the parents of students in higher education. This paper looks separately at: the general state of corruption in higher education; the important fields, official posts, and social sectors relating to corruption in higher education; the causes of corruption in higher education; and personal experiences of, and opinions towards, corruption in higher education. Lastly, it probes issues such as possible measures to reduce corruption. The investigation has discovered that corruption in higher education is already rather widespread, although it is less serious than in other fields. Building infrastructure, decision-taking, and student enrolment have already become the three areas in higher education in which corruption is most serious. There is a close connection between corruption in higher education and current poor management in the higher education management system. The direction to take in reducing corruption is to move towards good governance in higher education: specifically, to allow teachers and students more participation in pedagogical research and pedagogical affairs; to increase the transparency of basic information regarding the management in higher education institutions, especially regarding financial affairs; to have more external supervision and auditing of the management in higher education; and to have fairer competition between different types of higher education institution.