Corruption in China's higher education system: a malignant tumor

Since the 1990s, corruption has seriously threatened mainland China's universities in their teaching, research, service to society, and international links and exchanges. The scale of corruption pertains to almost all aspects of higher education. Yet, discussions of corruption have been largely confined to exchanges on the Internet. The Chinese masses know little of these discussions. Media coverage within China remains fragmentary and superficial. The government has just begun to address this issue by instituting countermeasures. This article focuses on three aspects that are indicative of academic corruption in other parts of the system: research administration, academic promotion and doctoral students' training.