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Corruption and anti-corruption within the research sector and university system in Bolivia

Higher education is a sensitive sector for corruption as it involves a substantial amount of resources and high degrees of discretion. In particular, Bolivia dedicates around 17% of its annual budget, more than most Latin American Countries, to this sub-sector. The specific areas of corruption risks in higher education are: i) accreditation and quality control; ii) administration; iii) recruitment and admission; iv) academic integrity. Bribery, embezzlement, misappropriation/fraud, trading in influence, abuse of power/influence, collusion, patronage, nepotism, clientelism, and conflict of interest are the most common types of corruption occurring in the higher education sector. The following specific measures are proposed to decrease the risk of corruption in the higher education sector: control and sanctions; whistle-blower protection; ranking and accreditation; ethical code / code of conduct; promotion of academic integrity; monitoring of universities expenditure.

1 December 2019
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Corruption and anti-corruption within the research sector and university system in Bolivia

Main points

  • Bolivia dedicates around 17% of its annual budget to education, more than most Latin American countries.
  • Bolivia does not have specific regulations to address corruption in higher education as it refers to the broader anti-corruption legal framework, which has been consistently reformed in the last decade.
  • The higher education sector features four main areas of risk: accreditation and quality control; administration; recruitment and admission; academic integrity.
  • The following specific measures are proposed to decrease the risk of corruption in the higher education sector: control and sanctions; whistleblower protection; ranking and accreditation; ethical code/code of conduct; promotion of academic integrity; monitoring of universities expenditure.

Cite this publication


Costantino, F.; (2019) Corruption and anti-corruption within the research sector and university system in Bolivia. Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Helpdesk Answer 2019:12)

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About the author

Fabrizio Costantino

Fabrizio Costantino is Research and Knowledge Coordinator at Transparency International. In 2014 he obtained a PhD in Law from the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona, Spain. He has been working as expert in various justice related studies on behalf of the European Commission. He is author of several publications and technical reports on corruption, law and criminology, both at national and international level. He is lecturer of eCriminology and Evaluation of criminal policies courses at the Department of Law, University of Trento (Italy). Before joining TI, Fabrizio worked at eCrime, the Research Group on eCriminology at the Faculty of Law of the University of Trento. He worked at the Policy Analysis and Research Branch of United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Vienna.

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