Recently, many cases of violation of discipline and law by university leaders have been notified
Cracking the Difficulty of Supervision by University Leaders
Author: reporter Zhang Shengjun
On October 16, the Intermediate People's Court of Anqing City, Anhui Province issued a public sentence in the first instance of the bribery case of Wang Jian, the former president of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for bribery.
Prior to this June 24, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and State Supervision Commission issued a notice on the website that Wang Jian was expelled from the party for serious violations of discipline and law, and the benefits he enjoyed were cancelled according to regulations.
Ding Hui, deputy party secretary and president of North China University of Technology, Xia Jianguo, president of Shanghai University of Engineering and Technology, and Tang Nong, deputy party secretary and president of Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine... The recent intensive notification of corruption cases in universities has repeatedly warned that universities are by no means a clean place. It is not the Qingshui Yamen. We must vigorously rectify corruption in colleges and universities, and resolutely remove the worms from the ivory tower.
Colleges and universities undertake the fundamental task of cultivating people and the historical mission of cultivating socialist builders and successors.
Among them, university party committee secretaries and principals, as the main persons in charge, bear more important responsibilities.
What are the reasons behind the downfall of university leaders?
What are the risks of integrity in this position?
How to strengthen the supervision of the "top leaders" of colleges and universities, so as to ensure their clean use of power and standard performance of their duties...This series of issues have aroused great public opinion.
Since the beginning of this year, the website of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has reported that nearly 30 leaders at the department and bureau level of colleges and universities have been investigated and punished. Among them, college party committee secretaries and presidents (deans) accounted for over 70%
Since 2020, colleges and universities have continued their efforts to fight corruption and have always maintained a high-pressure situation.
On January 8, the website of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Cai Xiang, former member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and vice president of Communication University of China, was expelled from the party and from public office.
This is the first case of investigation and punishment of a university leader publicly notified this year.
The most recently investigated was Ding Hui, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and President of North China University of Technology, who was on the scene on October 13.
Sorting out the cases reported on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission, as of now, a total of 17 university leaders have undergone disciplinary review and supervision and investigation this year, including 6 party committee secretaries and 7 presidents (deans); a total of 11 university leaders have been "double-opened" Or expelled from the party (retired at the time of investigation), including 3 party secretary and 4 principals (deans).
From the perspective of the composition of the staff, the party committee secretaries and principals (deans) accounted for more than 70% of the notified cadres at the department and bureau level of universities.
"This shows that the main leaders of universities, as the'key minority', have become the key people for corruption, and in particular, the'top leader' corruption has become a significant feature of current corruption cases in universities." Song Wei, director of the Center for Integrity Research of University of Science and Technology Beijing, believes that the The supervision and restriction of the "top leaders" brooks no delay.
Judging from the universities involved, except for Communication University of China and Guangzhou Civil Aviation Vocational and Technical College which are affiliated to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Transport respectively, the rest are provincial-administered universities, involving Shanghai, Guangxi, Heilongjiang, Guangdong, Yunnan, Jilin, and Shandong. , Anhui, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Sichuan and more than 10 regions.
In terms of distribution, the Yunnan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection conducted a review and investigation of 4 people, including Wu Song, former party secretary of Southwest Forestry University, Hu Biao, party secretary of Baoshan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiong Rongyuan, party secretary of Wenshan College, and member of Yunnan Open University party committee. , Vice President Lin Yanquan.
Four leading cadres from colleges and universities in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were "double-opened" or expelled from the party, including Hohhot Vocational College's former party secretary Zhao Quanbing and former party committee deputy secretary and dean Li Huaizhu, Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities party committee former deputy secretary Xiao Jianping, and Inner Mongolia Medical University former party committee Member and Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection Ma Zhongkui.
"If there is any problem, we must resolutely investigate and deal with it, and continue to release the signal to strengthen the supervision and accountability of the university's top leaders." The responsible comrade of the Yunnan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection said.
The reporter found that seven of the reported university leaders had retired.
"They who should have enjoyed retirement will eventually have to pay for their violations of discipline and law." Song Wei believes that this also shows that there is no end to anti-corruption. Whether they are retiring or on duty, they will be severely punished as long as they violate party discipline and national laws.
Corruption of “top leaders” in colleges and universities has both the characteristics of general corruption and the characteristics of the education industry. It is mostly concentrated in the fields of infrastructure and logistics, selection and employment, admissions and examinations, scientific research funding, and school-run enterprises.
Taking advantage of position convenience or position influence, Wang Xueyong, former deputy secretary and dean of Daxinganling Technician College, "swallowed huge amounts of public funds", and Dou Xiaoguang, former deputy secretary and dean of Anhui Communications Vocational and Technical College, "does without authority and interferes with school projects in violation of regulations." ", Wang Jian "tolerated relatives to intervene in the construction of the school, and cooperated with relatives to illegally accept other people's property"... Most of the 11 "double opening" bulletins issued by university leaders this year mentioned "using the convenience of their position to seek benefits for others and Accept property".
“From the investigated cases, it can be found that corruption in colleges and universities has both the characteristics of general corruption and the characteristics of the education industry.” Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of Peking University's Research Center for Integrity Construction, believes that corruption in colleges and universities is mostly concentrated in infrastructure logistics, selection and employment, admissions examinations, and Research funding, school-run enterprises and other fields.
These fields have relatively close relations with society, resources and power are relatively concentrated, and the problems are also more prominent.
When the first instance of Wang Jian's bribery case was publicly pronounced, the court found that Wang Jian was mainly engaged in "undertaking engineering projects, school-enterprise cooperation, medical equipment distribution, job promotion, etc." for the benefit of others, and received property equivalent to more than RMB 6 million.
With the expansion of college enrollment and the country's continuous increase in education investment, the infrastructure of domestic colleges and universities is getting larger and larger.
Some university leaders, developers, and contractors use each other to form an alliance of interests and jointly erode the cost of school infrastructure projects.
According to the China Judgment Document Network, Xiao Jianping helped Tongliao Shitong Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. to actually construct the Mongolian Medicine Building project of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities during his tenure as deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities in 2015. In 2019, the legal representative of the company, Xiao Mou, transferred money The remittance method gave Xiao Jianping RMB 300,000.
College teachers’ entry, cadre adjustment, and job title evaluation are basically in the hands of school leaders. Personnel power is also a link that is prone to corruption.
During his tenure at Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, Xiao Jianping received property many times and provided help for others' job adjustments.
For example, before the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2010, Wang, then director of the Instrumental Music Teaching and Research Section of the Conservatory of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, hoped that Xiao Jianping would help him promote his position and gave Xiao Jianping 100,000 yuan.
In 2014, Wang participated in the competition for the school's department-level cadres and was recommended by Xiao Jianping to be appointed as the vice chairman of the school union.
As the enrollment system becomes more and more complete, corruption in the entrance examination process has been effectively curbed.
"But in the special types of admissions examinations, postgraduate admissions interviews and other links, the risk of integrity still exists." said Tao Juhu, deputy secretary of the Chongqing University Party Committee and Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee.
Embezzlement of scientific research funds is also a common corruption behavior in universities.
"Mothworms" in colleges and universities range from recharging phone bills, to reimbursing tickets, to false invoices and fabricating false accounts—they can be described as various ways to extract scientific research funds.
"Compared with infrastructure corruption, embezzlement of scientific research funds is more deceptive, concealed and harmful." Song Wei believes.
"The issue of'top leaders' in colleges and universities is prone to frequent occurrences, misleading the values of students, damaging the political ecology of a unit, and severely damaging the image of colleges and universities and education." Zhuang Deshui said.
The frequent issue of "top leaders" in colleges and universities is related to the lack of effective supervision and restriction on the power of colleges and universities
Colleges and universities are concentrated in power and rich in resources, and “top leaders” often have a great deal of discourse and control in human rights, powers of affairs, and financial power.
According to Zhuang Deshui's analysis, under this circumstance, the “top leaders” of colleges and universities can easily use administrative power to seek personal economic benefits, and they are faced with the risk of clean governance brought about by “spending a pen, using a word, and making a decision”.
Song Wei expressed the same view. He believes that due to the relative independence of colleges and universities, the main leaders of colleges and universities, especially the "top leaders", can easily abuse their power and lead to corruption if they are not effectively supervised and restricted in the decision-making process.
Colleges and universities have the characteristics of a "small society, large grassroots", with a large scale of staff, and complicated relationships among classmates, fellow students, and fellow villagers, and they belong to a typical "acquaintance society".
Judging from the resumes of leaders of Lok Ma colleges and universities, some college presidents have long served in the same unit, and their interests are intertwined, which is prone to problems.
Wang Jian has been working in Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 1988 as the deputy director of the Academic Affairs Office of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (renamed to Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2013), until his retirement in 2018.
The Yunnan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision analyzed reports from college leaders who lost their horses and found that losing their ideals, beliefs and principles of party spirit and being willing to be "hunted" and turning public power into a tool for personal gain is another important reason for the corruption of "top leaders" in colleges and universities.
The former deputy secretary of the party committee and dean of Xilin Gol Vocational College, Te Ligeng, mentioned in the “Double Opening” bulletin, “The family style is not correct, the whole family will go to the boss, and the family will be hunted and hunted. The public power is used as a tool for personal gain, and the spouse and daughter are lost. Control the failure of education".
"The crux of the problem lies in the insufficient leadership role of some colleges and universities party committees, insufficient implementation of the main responsibility for comprehensive and strict governance of the party, weak grassroots party organization construction, and loose and soft handling of disciplinary issues." Zhuang Deshui believes that some colleges and universities' discipline inspection committees have played their supervisory responsibilities. Insufficient, combined with actual supervision, enforcement and accountability, and the use of the "four forms" are not strong enough, which is also an important reason for the problems of the "top leaders."
Zhuang Deshui suggested that in accordance with the requirements of the modern university system, the internal power of universities should be scientifically allocated, an effective power restriction mechanism for universities should be formed, and a scientific and complete power operation system should be established; improve the top-level design of party building in universities, start with key areas and key links, and aim at power and interests Closely connected joints, establish and improve the early warning and prevention and control mechanism of clean government risks.
Song Wei suggested that it is necessary to promote the formation of a joint force of internal self-monitoring and external supervision in colleges and universities, and fully mobilize the supervision of teachers, students and employees of colleges and universities and social supervision on the basis of the special supervision functions of discipline inspection and supervision agencies.
At the same time, further promote the publicity of power matters in universities and reduce the risk of corruption through information disclosure.
The reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system in colleges and universities is progressing steadily, and the effect of supervision is showing an enhanced trend
Not long ago, led by the Seventh Supervision and Inspection Office of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, the staff of the discipline inspection and supervision agencies of 4 municipal art colleges were selected to investigate and deal with the art enrollment related issues of the China Conservatory of Music. Currently, 4 relevant personnel have been dealt with.
Liu Yu, secretary of the Disciplinary Committee and Supervisor of the China Conservatory of Music, introduced: “The Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has adopted a case handling model of'lead handling', which not only takes advantage of the high professional quality and strong organizational ability of the higher-level organs, but also makes up for the handling of cases by the discipline inspection and supervision organs of universities. Relative lack of experience and other shortcomings."
This is a microcosm of advancing the reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system in universities and promoting the continuous increase in the anti-corruption of universities.
In October 2018, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Institutions Assigned by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission", and the inclusion of the party committee secretary and principals in the reform of the discipline inspection system of colleges and universities managed by the central government kicked off.
At present, the nomination and inspection of the secretaries of the discipline inspection committees of 31 China-managed colleges and universities are carried out by the National Supervision Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Party Group of the competent departments.
At the local level, the reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system of provincial colleges and universities is also advancing vigorously.
Beijing universities retain the establishment of the Disciplinary Committee, the secretary of the Disciplinary Committee shall be appointed as the Ombudsman, and the Office of the Ombudsman shall be established to work with the Disciplinary Committee.
As of the end of August, the number of disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies in 33 municipal colleges and universities totaled 177 people, an increase of 41 people over the pre-reform period, and an average increase of 1.2 people per school, an increase of 30.1%.
The Anhui Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection has strengthened the construction of discipline inspection and supervision organizations in provincial colleges and universities, and dispatched supervisors to 30 provincial colleges and universities.
In the first half of this year, despite the impact of the epidemic, the number of clues and cases filed by the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission increased by 15.4% and 26% respectively over the same period last year.
Since June 2019, Tianjin has selected 15 bureau-level colleges and universities as reform pilots, and the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection has dispatched a discipline inspection and supervision team.
Since the pilot, 15 colleges and universities dispatched disciplinary inspection and supervision teams to deal with 689 clues and 61 cases were filed, which is equivalent to the total number of cases filed by the original discipline inspection committee of the universities in the past two years before the reform.
"Several changes in the reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system in colleges and universities deserve attention: the first change is that the nomination and inspection of the secretary of the discipline inspection committee of colleges and universities has changed, which has strengthened independence and authority; the second change is that the supervision authority of the discipline inspection and supervision agency of colleges and universities is greatly improved. The supervision ability has been strengthened, and the supervision effect has been strengthened; the third change is the continuous increase of the discipline inspection and supervision institutions and strengths of colleges and universities.” Zhuang Deshui believes that it is particularly important that the college discipline inspection committee pays attention to supervising the role of the party committee of colleges and universities to play the core of leadership and political core to achieve the main body Responsibilities and supervision responsibilities resonate at the same frequency and work in the same direction, playing an increasingly important role in the overall strict governance of the party in colleges and universities.
University inspections continue to deepen, and the role of sharp swords continues to manifest
While the reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system in colleges and universities has been continuously transformed into governance efficiency, the role of inspection and inspection has also been demonstrated in strengthening the supervision of college leaders.
The party committees of 31 middle-management universities have all established inspection systems.
The Party Committee of Beijing Normal University regards internal inspections as a "secretary project", and the secretary of the Party committee serves as the leader of the inspection team to guide the inspection work throughout the process.
In the first round of inspections by the Party Committee of the University of Science and Technology of China in 4 units, 2 of the party organizations and their leaders were held accountable for failing to fulfill their responsibilities as the main body of strict governance of the party.
The party committees of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have strengthened inspections of party organizations in colleges and universities affiliated to the province (region, city).
The Anhui Provincial Party Committee has sent inspection teams to carry out regular inspections on provincial colleges and universities and party committees of higher vocational colleges.
In July 2019, the Anhui Provincial Supply and Marketing Cooperative issued a report on the inspection and improvement exhibition, which repeatedly mentioned the problem rectification of Anhui Vocational College of Finance and Trade.
Three months after the rectification notice was issued, Geng Jinling, party secretary of Anhui Vocational College of Finance and Trade, was investigated.
In May of this year, Geng Jinling was "double-opened", and the notification showed that he did not implement the inspection and rectification requirements, interfered with the inspection work, and charged students with "small and miscellaneous fees" in violation of regulations.
On October 11, the seventh round of mobilization and deployment meeting of the 13th Gansu Provincial Party Committee was held, and regular inspections of 18 provincial-administered universities will be carried out.
Each inspection team will keep an eye on the "key minority" of colleges and universities, and supervise the political correctness, strictness of discipline, and integrity of leading cadres; keep an eye on important issues and supervise colleges and universities in project bidding, engineering construction, material procurement, and fund management , Scientific research funding, enrollment, selection of cadres, and talent introduction, etc., are there any phenomena such as illegal operations, power for personal gain, and money trading.
Recently, several college secretaries and presidents have been investigated, confirming the remarkable results achieved in the reform of the discipline inspection and supervision system, inspections and supervision of colleges and universities.
Song Wei suggested that, in the next step, higher-level party organizations should focus on strengthening supervision over the exercise of power by leading cadres in colleges and universities, especially the "top leaders", and college discipline inspection and supervision agencies should assist college party committees in fulfilling their main responsibility for strict governance of the party and earnestly perform their own supervision. Responsibility, resolutely remove pollution sources in the ivory tower, and return a clean sky to universities.
(Our reporter Zhang Shengjun)