In Sumy, law enforcement has uncovered corrupt practices related to extorting bribes from graduate students for the successful defense of their doctoral dissertations at a local university.

One of the officials was caught in the act.

According to the Security Service of Ukraine, a scheme was operating at one of the educational institutions in Sumy, where graduate students were required to pay $6,000 for a guaranteed positive outcome.

“If students refused to pay the bribe, they were met with artificial obstacles that made it impossible to defend their dissertations”, law enforcement officials stated.

The SBU apprehended an official while she was receiving a bribe from one of the graduate students.

She has been charged under part 2 of Article 368 (acceptance of an offer, promise, or receipt of an unlawful benefit by a public servant) and part 3 of Article 369-2 (abuse of influence) of the Criminal Code.

The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are identifying all individuals involved in the corruption scheme.

It is worth noting that this year, activists accused Deputy Minister of Education and Science Andriy Vitrenko of plagiarism in six of his academic works.

In 2024, the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance has not revoked the academic degrees of any scientists suspected of plagiarism.