Review

The article examines the institutional model of state response to self-serving crimes in the higher education sector of Ukraine as of May 2024. The aim of the article is to develop a holistic institutional model of state response to self-serving crimes in the higher education sector, capable of ensuring proper criminal and legal countermeasures, financial control and prevention of academic corruption within the current regulatory framework of Ukraine.

The article emphasizes that in a narrow criminal-legal dimension, mercenary crimes are defined as intentional encroachments with a mercenary motive, which are directly provided for by the norms of the Criminal Code; in a broad social-legal sense, they are attributed to all abuses that harm public finances and the integrity of the educational process. The components of the institutional model are identified: the Ministry of Education, Science and Higher Education, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the State Bureau of Investigation, the prosecutor’s office, and internal departments of HEIs.

Empirical data show that in 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the State Bureau referred 30 cases to court against university officials, but only 27 % of internal HEI authorized officers had the resources for their own inspections; 38 % of university anti-corruption programs remain formal. The main problems are the conflict of interest of management, the lack of autonomous internal investigations, limited publicity of disciplinary materials, and soft judicial practice. It is proposed to create independent supervisory boards at HEIs with the right to initiate internal investigations, to introduce mandatory digital transparency of budget operations and publication of decisions of integrity commissions, and to integrate the analytical platforms of the BEB and the NACP into a single digital platform under the coordination of the Ministry of Education and Science.

The article examines the problems of documenting crimes of self-interest in HEIs through three complementary methods. The article analyzes the problems of recording crimes of self-interest in higher education through a synthesis of normative, empirical, and case-oriented approaches. The normative section of the Law «On Operational and Investigative Activities» and the Code of Criminal Procedure revealed delays in the authorization of the NSRD and unclear rules for working with digital evidence, which deprives investigators of a «window of opportunity» for documenting a crime. Content analysis of 49 court decisions (2021–2024) showed that courts most often reject NSRD materials and electronic accounting databases of universities due to a broken data storage chain and the use of uncertified software. Case studies of three high-profile proceedings of the NABU and the State Bureau of Investigation showed that even with the availability of intelligence work, the investigation is hampered by the lack of express economic expertise and the lack of synchronization of the actions of operational and investigative units. The combination of these factors creates a high latency of offenses and contributes to their reduction to disciplinary violations, which undermines the inevitability of criminal liability in the field of higher education.

Keywords: profit-motivated crimes; higher education; anti-corruption policy; institutional model; NABU; NACP; internal audit; operative-search activity; pre-trial investigation.