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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.

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.

Reported instances of bribery and corruption increased sharply last year on campuses throughout Russian Federation. More than 1,000 incidents of bribe-taking and related abuses by administrators and professors were confirmed in 2001, an increase of 32 percent over the 2000 levels.

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.

The rector of the Moscow State University of Culture and the Arts is alleged to have handed out 130 "false" law degrees between 2001 and 2004 in exchange for bribes worth RUR300,000. Estimates of how much students pay teachers and academics in bribes every year range from RUR250m to RUR300m.

According to Izvestiya Nauki, a corruption-monitoring team at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, university teachers took roughly $923 million in 2004. Some estimates indicate that corruption in universities is rising by 7-10 percent annually. The Highest School of Economics believes one out of ten university lecturers take bribes, and 20% of future students and their parents would be prepared to offer a bribe.

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.