The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has completed a routine inspection of the organization of work to prevent and detect corruption in the activities of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES).
“The main challenge that the Agency believes the MES leadership faces is to cover not only the activities of the Ministry itself, but also its subordinate enterprises, institutions and organizations, primarily educational institutions, with anti-corruption policy and corruption prevention measures,” said NAPC Head Viktor Pavlushchyk.
During the inspection, the NACP experts identified corruption risks associated, in particular, with the creation of fictitious grounds for deferral from mobilization by heads of higher education institutions.
For example, the Ministry of Education and Science is the manager of the Unified State Electronic Database on Education (USEDE), which contains data on students, including their enrollment in educational institutions. Such data must be up-to-date, and the information must be entered within five working days of its receipt.
The audit showed that in February-May 2024, about 150 educational and research institutions of state and private ownership, in violation of the established procedure and without the consent of the Ministry of Education and Science, entered information on more than 5.7 thousand applicants for the third educational and scientific level of higher education (postgraduate studies), allegedly enrolled in the period 2021-2023, into the EDEBO.
Such abnormal activity with manipulation of the USES may be explained by the fact that in May 2024, the Government clarified the rules for conscription of citizens for military service during mobilization for a special period. The CMU Resolution stipulates that a deferral from conscription is granted if a student's certificate is provided according to the USEDB.
Currently, the Ministry of Education and Science is taking measures to overcome the consequences and prevent the problem from being solved. However, NACP emphasizes that preventing corruption is more effective than eliminating its consequences.
The management of state-owned property of the Ministry of Education and Science is also among the areas traditionally subject to corruption risks.
For example, educational institutions are provided with movable and immovable property - buildings, land plots, equipment, vehicles and office housing, etc. - to fulfill their tasks.
In order to preserve these assets and prevent abuse of office, Part 4 of Article 80 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education” provides for restrictions on their use and disposal.
However, due to insufficient control, as well as abuse by some heads of institutions, cases of possible illegal alienation and misuse of assets are widespread.
The NACP has recorded the following main corruption practices related to the management of property of educational institutions:
- Possible illegal privatization of real estate of educational institutions;
- transfer of real estate for lease with further use for purposes unrelated to the educational process;
- transfer of land plots of educational institutions for use by business entities under the guise of “joint activity”;
- conclusion and execution of investment agreements for the purpose of building up the territory of educational institutions.
Thus, according to the results of the audit, the NACP found the fact of privatization with violations of a building in Lviv, which belonged to one of the city's higher education institutions, as well as the systematic misuse of a building of one of the Kyiv universities by a tenant to organize a nightclub. The materials received were sent to the Ministry of Education and Science and the Prosecutor General's Office to initiate the invalidation of the concluded agreements or their termination.
During the audit, NACP also identified corruption risks in the management of state-owned property.
For example, by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the National Aviation University (NAU) was reorganized with the creation of, among other things, the State Non-Profit Enterprise “State University Kyiv Aviation Institute”. Under this organizational and legal form of the educational institution, its property located in Kyiv and which may be of commercial interest is not protected from alienation.
These facts create a corruption risk of satisfying the private interest of the company's management, officials of the Ministry of Education and Science and other persons to obtain undue benefits for assistance in the alienation of real estate owned by the company in favor of interested parties.
The NACP also drew attention to the initiative of the Ministry of Education to terminate Part 4 of Article 80 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education” in terms of lifting the ban on privatization of state universities, and subpara. 45, Part 2 of Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine “On Privatization of State and Communal Property” in terms of lifting the ban on privatization of premises of state higher education institutions by introducing relevant provisions to the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025”. The adoption of these legislative changes will lead to the need to manage new corruption risks that will arise when
- making a decision on the feasibility of privatizing a particular real estate object of an educational institution;
- assessing the possibility of continuing to use the real estate of the educational institution being reorganized to ensure the educational process of other educational institutions;
- implementation of privatization procedures.
For reference. The Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption ” provides for the functioning of certain anti-corruption institutions, mechanisms and tools in public organizations designed to prevent corruption: the activities of the authorized unit for the prevention of corruption, the implementation of an anti-corruption program and a corruption risk management system, the institution of whistleblowing, etc.
The proper functioning of these components of the anti-corruption system and ensuring their maximum efficiency are subject to scheduled and unscheduled inspections of the organization of work on preventing and detecting corruption, conducted by the NACP on the basis of clauses 5-2, part 1, article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption ” and the procedure approved by the NACP order.
