Corruption in higher education institutions in Kazakhstan has grown to $100 million per year, Tengrinews reports citing the press office of the Ministry of Education and Science.
Corruption in higher education institutions in Kazakhstan has grown to $100 million per year, Tengrinews reports citing the press office of the Ministry of Education and Science.
Vice-Minister of Education and Science Takir Balykbaev acknowledged that Kazakhstan's higher education sector was not transparent.
“Decisions made on university level lack transparency. Corruption level is very high in this sector. Education is in Top 3 in our country's rating of the most corrupt sectors. (...) The 'grey education market' amounts to tens of million of dollars," he said. 'Buying' semester exams in a university costs from $300 and up for a student, Balykbayev specified citing his own sources.
“According to experts, not only in Kazakhstan, but in education systems world wide the following procedures are the 'corruption hot points': enrollment into a university, accreditation of universities and programs, midterms, semester exams, state procurement procedures and conferring degrees,” the Kazakh Vice Minister said.
There are anti-corruption tools in the education system, but they are not comprehensive and lack a solid foundation, Balykbayev added and promised that the Ministry would create the Anti-Corruption Committee that would work towards elimination of corruption in universities and creating awareness about its negative effects.
Reporting by Assel Satayeva, writing by Gyuzel Kamalova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina