Academic Corruption: Culture and Trust in Indian Higher Education

• In Event: 69.012 - Systemic Academic Corruption in Higher Education: A Global Perspective

Abstract

Over a generation ago, the Indian government faced a dilemma: it wanted to dramatically increase the number of students attending postsecondary institutions, but it lacked adequate funding for public higher education development. Consequently, private, non-profit colleges are prominent in India’s higher education landscape. According to recent estimates (MHRD, 2015), India has 35,357 higher-education institutions and 32.3 million students. Of India’s 35,357 higher education institutions, 22,100 are private colleges. Although many say that the entire system is riddled with corruption, most are troubled by the 22,100 private colleges where bribery seems to be the norm, rather than the exception.
This paper investigates systemic academic corruption in India’s higher education system by employing a modified case study of one such private college. This article first develops the theoretical notion of organizational culture and considers how trust functions in organizations. By triangulating 33 interviews of administrators, faculty, and other individuals linked with the institution with analyses of documents, this study then highlights various forms of corruption, as well as the actors involved. The forms of corruption involve the process for obtaining and maintaining an operational license, buying students, bargaining over tuition and attendance, and the payment of teachers. Actors include government agents and site visit committees, students, teachers, and institutional leaders. Our intent is neither to propose legislative efforts to stop such activities nor to suggest that the forms of corruption we discuss are unique to India. Instead, we employ organizational culture theory to come to terms with what systemic corruption is and how those within the academy might best confront it. A cultural analysis demonstrates that a lack of trust pervades the system, making the utilization of “black money” systemic.

Authors

• William G. Tierney, University of Southern California

• Michael Lanford, University of Southern California