Topic Guide: Corruption in Education

The World Bank and OECD databases on economic development feature numerous indicators related to education, including enrolment and investment in education. These, however, do not provide comprehensive data specifically on corruption in the education sector. Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer identifies corruption perception trends worldwide for education services and professionals.  

Transparency International. 2017. Monitoring Corruption and Anti-Corruption in the SDGs: A Resource Guide. http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/monitoring_corruption_and_anti_corruption_in_the_sustainable_development_go  

As part of its follow-up and review mechanisms for the SDGs, member states are encouraged to conduct regular national reviews of progress made towards the achievement of these goals through an inclusive, voluntary and country-led process. This guide is intended to explain the role of civil society organisations in monitoring corruption in the SDGs, as well as how to identify potential indicators and data sources for this purpose. Throughout the guide, there are country examples of indicator selections, inclusive follow-up review processes and approaches to corruption monitoring. A chapter is dedicated to mainstreaming anti-corruption in monitoring SDG 4.  

International Institute for Education Planning. ETICO Database. http://etico.iiep.unesco.org/  

This is a web-based resource catalogue focused on issues surrounding ethics and corruption in education. The platform features a compendium of capacity building services, knowledge gathering and analysis tools as well as an information exchange platform aimed at promoting dialogue, networking and collective reflection of the issue of corruption.  

Centre for International Higher Education. Higher Education Corruption Monitor.http://www.bc.edu/research/cihe/

The Higher Education Corruption Monitor is a knowledge depository set up by the CIHE to monitor news articles related to higher education corruption in English-language news outlets around the world. It features a search engine to filter these articles, categorising them into three categories: (1) general corruption, (2) corruption in examination and admissions, and (3) degree fraud.  

Council for Higher Education Accreditation. 2013. Important Questions about Accreditation, Degree Mills and Accreditation Mills. https://vn.usembassy.gov/education-culture/educationusa/accreditation-resources/mills/  

The CHEA is a US-based institution which aims to educate citizens and public officials about accreditation fraud and seeks to advocate for stronger legislation regarding the issue. The CHEA has produced a number of documents related to accreditation fraud including this web-entry which provides information about accreditation fraud. The webpage provides a tool to assess whether an institution is a degree/accreditation mill. The webpage also includes a link to a database of recognised US accrediting institutions.