Paying for education: why not do it legally?

This paper provides a comparative analysis of what the author describes as "state owned highly corrupted universities" against private educational institutions in Ukraine to show that one of the most effective ways to fight corruption in the educational systems of transition countries is through establishing a system of paid/private higher education. According to interviews with students and professors, the number one reason is university professors' low salaries. Professors are also subject to peer pressure from colleagues to take bribes. All bribe money is pooled, and, according to a tariff system, redistributed to various departments (economics, law and journalism are ranked the highest). The biggest share, sometimes up to 75 per cent, goes to the principal of the university. 35 percent of Ukrainian students consider bribe-paying normal and unavoidable. Another reason that corruption is rife in the university system is that the Ukrainian legal system has weak anti-corruption legislation and that there is little external control of state-owned institutions.