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Fighting against Academic Corruption: A Critique of Recent Policy Developments in China

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Abstract

Academic corruption in China's higher education institutions has become a serious issue in the last decade. This paper provides a critical discussion of the Chinese Ministry of Education's policy developments aimed to strengthen academic ethics and control academic corruption. It suggests that while the reactions of policy-makers to the apparent deterioration of academic ethics have been cautious and relatively slow, they are headed in the right direction. A comparative study of the policy documents demonstrates that significant progress has been made, and that the policy has undergone a change from what Anderson (1979) and Prunty (1984) described as symbolic to material. Meanwhile, findings generated by qualitative interviews provide some insights into real-world academic corruption in China and indicate the complexity of the problem. Finally, some policy interventions are suggested that might be effective in reducing academic corruption.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to extend his special gratitude to Prof. Ruth Hayhoe, Dr. Rui Yang and Dr. Paul Morrissey for their comments on an early draft of the paper, and to Dr. John Pella for his language support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China

    Kai Ren

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  1. Kai Ren
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Ren, K. Fighting against Academic Corruption: A Critique of Recent Policy Developments in China. High Educ Policy 25, 19–38 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2011.20

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