Secondary School External Examination Systems: Reliability, Robustness and Resilience
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Secondary School External Examination Systems: Reliability, Robu ...

Chapter 1:  Introduction: The Importance of External Examinations in Education
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In 2006 interviews with faculty were conducted at Tiblisi State University (TSU) in Georgia, East Kazakhstan State University in Kazakhstan, and at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. Bribery and corruption were a common focus. One senior professor at TSU laid out what he considered the recent history at his university (transcribed verbatim):

Admissions were a way to make money, huge money. But once inside the university, corruption depended upon the department. It was worse in Law and Business and Economics. It makes no sense to be corrupt in math and physics. (Why?). No one in his right mind would study math or physics if he is corrupt. If you go into math or physics there is no work, no jobs, so we get only highly motivated students. Medicine was the first faculty to become corrupt. But it is not only because of demand; there is also the question of prestige, the diploma. (Heyneman, 2007)

Why is corruption so prevalent? One answer has to do with the mentality of today’s students. One professor said,

We have to change this mentality. Western countries have had two hundred years to develop their market economies. We have had ten years. Students still think of employment as they did under the Soviets; many of them have already been promised jobs. These jobs depend on their obtaining a diploma. So they come to university focused not on learning but on obtaining a diploma. They don’t have to earn their diploma in order to be employed; all they have to do is have one. This is because these are the first formative years of our market economy.

Will replacing the old oral examinations designed by each faculty with a new standardized examination system reduce corruption? In Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, the answer is yes. In the words of another interviewee,

The new [examination] system helps. Students have learned that I am angry when asked to give them a favor. How often I get requests depends on how strict I am. If I am more liberal, I get more pressure. Before the new system, the teacher was overwhelmed with special requests.