Asia-Plus: 14 ришваситонӣ дар донишгоҳҳо соли 2025

The article, dated 18 February 2026, reports that in 2025 the Tajik Anti-Corruption Agency uncovered 14 cases of bribe-taking linked to admissions into higher education institutions. At a press conference on 13 February, deputy head of the Anti-Corruption Agency Firuz Kamolzoda stated that all 14 detected instances of bribery were connected to facilitating admission to higher professional education institutions. The article reports that criminal cases were opened against 9 individuals and forwarded to court. Kamolzoda named the Tajik State University of Law, Business and Politics in Khujand and Bokhtar State University named after Nosiri Khusrav as examples of institutions where such incidents occurred, though the article notes that university officials were not reached for comment. The article reports that Kamolzoda did not disclose the identities of those involved or the sums of the bribes, and expressed concern about the phenomenon. The article describes the National Testing Centre (MMT), which has operated for more than 12 years with the declared aim of preventing corruption in university admissions by placing candidates into institutions via a free centralised testing process. MMT officials claim they have significantly reduced corruption over the years and repeatedly urge the public not to pay intermediaries to alter results. The article quotes expert Komiljon Rahimov, who told Asia-Plus that the MMT system has allowed many capable but poor candidates to enter universities without intermediaries, while acknowledging that human factors still affect placement and admissions outside the tests. Rahimov concludes that no ideal system has yet been built anywhere in the world.