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A survey of 2,000 university students and 500 employees conducted by the Center for the Development of Youth Activism (CROA), found every fourth student has had an encounter with corruption - such as paying for a better grade. In addition to bribes and coerced textbook purchases, some students were pressured to join political parties and extorted for sexual favours. CROA is not only passing on the complaints to universities for a follow-up investigation, but is also planning anti-corruption training for professors, staff, and students. And it is working to include conflict of interest in universities’ codes of ethics.

Council of Europe and the European Union are assisting Serbian authorities in order to improve the quality of education through applying preventive mechanisms based on Council of Europe standards and practices. The actions is being implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education, while involving a wider group of stakeholders, including public universities, the Anti-Corruption Agency, education policy and research institutes, NGOs and academics. 

European Commission officials are expected to hold talks with government representatives in Bulgaria over the alleged mismanagement of funds in the operational programme Science and Education for Smart Growth in the European Union budget. Bulgaria has received funding for 116 agreements totalling BGN324 million (€165 million or US$174 million), and of these, eight projects have reportedly been found to be mismanaged, with a total budget of BGN180 million (€92 million or US$97 million).

In a surprise move, the president of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany this week announced plans to overhaul controversial contracts governing the use of a €150 million donation from a philanthropic foundation. Critics have charged that the agreement gives the donor too much control over publishing decisions and faculty appointments at the school’s Institute of Molecular Biology, which the foundation helped create in 2009. The move, which could eventually influence similar funding arrangements at other German universities, only partly satisfies critics. They are pushing for greater transparency from universities and donors.

German university heads have welcomed proposals by the Stifterverband – a network of foundations, businesses and individuals supporting the country’s higher education and research – for improved transparency in collaborations between universities and industry. The recommendations, issued in mid-April, stress the “responsibility of universities, as autonomous institutions, to regularly and appropriately inform the public about their collaborative projects with industry”.

A warning by German anti-corruption organisation Transparency International that links between higher education and business are becoming increasingly obscure has sparked an open debate. "We are observing corporate interests increasingly dominating teaching and research to a large extent,” said Director of Transparency International Germany.