We are pleased to announce the 2nd Seminar Series on Governance, Institutions, and Sustainability jointly hosted by the Centre for Political Economy and Institutional Studies and by the Birkbeck Responsible Business Centre, within the Birkbeck Business School.

In our rapidly evolving world, the intricate web connecting governance, institutions, and sustainability has become increasingly prominent. We invite scholars, researchers, and practitioners to enhance this very important debate and to join us in exploring the profound intertwining of these critical elements at our upcoming seminar series.

Corruption in education is particularly harmful due to its long-term social costs, as it normalizes unethical behavior from an early age. In Central Asia, where university admissions are highly competitive, paying bribes for access to higher education has become a deeply entrenched cultural norm. While recent reports suggest a decline in corruption over the past five years, it remains a significant issue. This study examines the role of individual preferences, particularly attitudes toward democracy, in shaping access-related corruption in university admissions across Central Asian countries. Using data from the third wave of the Life in Transition Survey, we employ a two-step regression approach. The first step addresses the endogeneity of the preference for democracy variable, while the second investigates the relationship between democratic preferences and corruption in university admissions. Our findings reveal that individuals with a stronger preference for democracy are significantly less likely to engage in corrupt practices to secure university access. These results highlight the potential for fostering democratic values to be a more effective strategy in combating educational corruption than traditional anti-corruption campaigns.