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The Institute of Business Economics’ rector and deputy are charged with fraud, forging of documents and their sale, commercial bribery, and mediation. One of the Institute applicants said that the admissions office offered her to pay 450 thousand rubles ($7,054) for three years of study. The fact that the university was deprived of its license two years earlier did not prevent the rector from concluding contracts with candidates for paid higher education.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The government has introduced a "Unified State Examination' test in the fight against corruption. The test will weed out weak teacher, improve the quality of instruction in schools and would ease the financial burden on parents of college students.

It is estimated that Russian students and their parents annually spend between $2 billion and $ 5 billion in bribes. And it costs between $ 10 000 and $ 15 000 in bribes to gain acceptance into well-regarded institutions of higher learning in Moscow.

The Russian Federation will begin testing a system of state examinations this year, similar in format to the SAT in the United States and aimed at reducing corruption and creating equitable access to higher education. A single test is planned to be instituted nationwide in 2004.