The annual report of Transparency International on corruption perception worldwide shows that progress has been made in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. The report also underlines that corruption most afflicts the poorest countries where governance is nonexistent and that money acquired through corrupt practice often come from multinationals based in rich countries.

In Georgia, the Soviet legacy and the later collapse of state institutions produced an educational system plagued by corruption, nepotism, centralization and lack of teachers and professors. In addition, during the 90's, private low-quality schools with titles like "university" and "institute" sprang up. Controversies have been raised after colleges and universities have been closed or merged, and thousands of academic and administrative positions abolished.

Irish universities have been criticized for being linked to corrupt and unethical regimes. The former head of the Bahrain campus of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has commented that third-level Irish institutions are "intimately engaged with regimes that have human rights" questions to answer".

The Council of Europe and European Union joint project “Strengthening Integrity and Combating Corruption in Higher Education in Armenia” was launched in Yerevan on 27 May 2015. The Project objective is to support the development of prevention and integrity mechanisms for practicing professionals and to increase good governance in the field of higher education in Armenia.