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Russia's state education watchdog has added four universities to a list of educational institutions that will be prohibited from enrolling new students from this autumn, the agency said in a statement last week. The addition of two universities in Moscow and two in Dagestan bring the list of educational institutions blacklisted in recent days to 12.

A recent order has fuelled student anger. It is known as: "On the approval of the procedure for the introduction of disciplinary measures for students". Presented by the Ministry of Education and Science, the order allows students to be expelled from universities for the slightest violations of institutions' "codes of ethics" and in particular for participation in political protests and actions.

An international forum has developed a code of ethics to apply to education agents and consultants who recruit international students for universities, colleges and schools around the world. The forum says the code and an accompanying statement of principles it has also published will facilitate a common approach and raise ethical standards in the recruitment of international students by education agents and consultants.

An exposé in the Russian edition of Esquire has roiled education and health officials here by detailing the corruption at six medical schools. The magazine in April published nine short articles by medical students describing the various ways they can pay professors in exchange for passing tests.

A good grade on the new SAT-style exams in Russia costs about 40,000 rubles. Could reform and crackdowns on corruption bring education back from the brink?

The level of corruption in Russian universities is steadily growing despite the efforts of local authorities to eradicate it. According to rough estimates, bribes paid for admission to Russian universities in 2009 totalled $1 billion. This is 40% more than in 2007, with the average bribe rocketing to five times higher in just the last two years.

Since taking over the Kremlin last month, President Medvedev, has made it a priority to combat what he calls "legal nihilism" in Russia. A campaign has begun to clean the courts of bribe-taking judges and letters from members of the public, complaining about corruption, have been published on the Kremlin website. Reporting on the results at St. Petersburg, the daily Kommersant said that 83 out of 200 students in the law faculty had failed their state examinations. Some who had received grade 2, the lowest mark, had been expecting to leave with "red diplomas" or distinctions. Among those who failed were students who had paid fees.

According to a study published in the February issue of the Comparative Education Review, educational corruption in the former USSR and other former communist regimes has increased since the end of the Cold War. Among the immediate problems for students is that a devalued degree adversely affects their earning power. Devaluation of degrees has serious international policy implications, degrades the entire social system of those countries and decreases the likelihood that those graduates will be able to improve their economic standing.

At least seven students died and 39 were injured when their university building was caught on fire. The accident occurred because the university, short of money, had rented out the building's lower three floors as office space, blocking the fire exits. As the chief of fire control of the Russian Federation Ministry of Emergency Situation, declared, the university lacked fire alarms, so the emergency services were notified too late.

To reduce the use of bribes, the parliament has approved a nationwide, standardized multiple choice test for high school seniors. This would substitute for written and oral admission exams that now leave room for subjective grading – and bribes. The testing requirement is expected to come into force in 2009.