1 CORRUPTION AS A LEGACY OF THE MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY: FINANCIAL AFFAIRS* Ararat L. Osipian†
[email protected] [email protected] Dept. of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations Vanderbilt University Peabody #514 230 Appleton Place Nashville, TN 37203-5721 Ph: (615)322-8000 Fax: (615)3432391 Correspondence: Osipian A. 3105 Bellwood st, apt H Nashville, TN, 37203, USA Nashville, TN – 2004 * This is the full version of the paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), Kansas City, MO, November 2004. † Ararat L. Osipian is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations at Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University, USA 2 Looking back upon the centuries one would suspect that in earlier ages universities of medieval France and Italy were very different from the multiplicity of organizational and institutional forms of higher education institutions in modern times, and yet one would be surprised how much these old universitas and modern universities have in common. One of the common features may be corruption and academic misconduct that can often bee seen in universities. The increasing scale and scope of corruption in higher education in the former Soviet Bloc as well as numerous other countries urges a better understanding of the problem within the context of socio-economic transformations. Corruption in higher education is deeply rooted in the organizational structure of each higher education institution. Corruption has a long history and a proud tradition. Corruption in higher education is an organic part of corruption overall, with its culture, traditions, functions, and mechanisms.