but it also increased authoritarianism and inhibited democracy. However, the successes are blatant: the “tradition of bribery on the roads of Georgia was completely eradicated, which enhanced the country’s role in the system of international transportation corridors”15. The registration of public services was facilitated, allowing greater ease for citizens to obtain official documents.
VVIn an interview with Transparency International, the distinction between petty and elite corruption is perhaps the most clear. The daily, incessant corruption that the average Georgian citizen faced as part of their everyday activities was eliminated. This was a massive success for the government policy, but also for the peoples’ quality of life. It increased public trust, social cohesion, and contributed to widespread support for the government. However, political leaders never addressed the issue of elite corruption. Nepotism remains pervasive, and the privatization mission was nontransparent. It was stated that “there continues to be less transparency the higher up in the government you go”16.
VVIn the higher education realm, corruption had penetrated all areas of institutions, including admissions, grading, financing, and hiring/firing practices17. The situation had been two-fold: academic- and services-oriented corruption between students and faculty, staff, or administrators; and administrative corruption, in the hiring process and in the misuse of public funds granted to the institution18. Georgia’s success in eliminating corruption in the higher education system was one of the areas with the fight against corruption was a direct result of efforts to Europeanize19. Georgia was attempting to comply with the Bologna Process20, meaning the widespread corruption in the sphere of education had to be addressed in order to be harmonized with European education standards.
8815. Papava 2013, p.55
8816. Interview with Transparency International; Tbilisi, February 2014
8817. Rostiashvili 2011
8818. Ibid.
8819. A deeper analysis of Georgia’s Europeanization efforts is provided towards the end of this paper
8820. The Bologna Process aims to create a European Higher Education Area. The Bologna Process does not aim to harmonize national educational systems, but rather to provide tools to connect them. The intention is to allow the diversity of national systems and universities to be maintained while the European Higher Education Area improves transparency between higher education systems, as well as implements tools to facilitate recognition of degrees and academic qualifications, mobility, and exchanges between institutions. (See 20 Cont. on next page)
http://www.eua.be/eua-work-and-policy-area/building-the-european-higher-education-area/bologna-basics.aspx
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