Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Students are most often the cause of corruption in universities in Uzbekistan, according to a survey by the Anti-Corruption Agency of Uzbekistan.

The survey was conducted from 2023 to 2024 at 16 universities in 14 cities across the country. It was attended by students, teachers, management and other university staff, as well as employees of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.

All respondents were asked the same question: “who is the cause of corruption in the university?”

According to the survey results, 76.7% of participants indicated that the reason lies in the students themselves, 34.3% named teachers, 25.4% chose the option “relatives of students who pay teachers extra for good grades.”

The percentage of respondents who pointed to the university administration as the cause of corruption was only 15.6%.

Interviewees noted that the most common corruption risks when assessing students’ academic performance are:

- pressure from students on teachers to change grades (27.88%);

- attempts to please teachers with gifts (16.03%);

- access of the university administration to teachers’ accounts in the grading system (10%);

- absenteeism (9.45%);

- provision of fake certificates by students (8.33%).