Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong on Wednesday asked universities and colleges to make further anti-corruption efforts and promote the scientific development of the country's higher education.

Liu, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, told a working conference that with the rapid development of universities, the anti-corruption task in the higher educational field had become more arduous.

Statistics from the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection showed that 58 percent of corruption cases which occurred in universities were found in infrastructure construction, purchasing and financing departments.

More than 300 university and college presidents attended the conference on anti-corruption work in the field of higher education.

In recent years, China's educational institutions have seen a rise in the number of bribery and other scandals.

Corruption found in universities has accounted for one fourth of the total cases uncovered in the educational field, according to the discipline authority.

Liu stressed that university leaders should enhance management and tighten their regulation over school budgets, infrastructure construction, enrollment, purchasing and school-affiliated enterprises.

"School affairs should be open to all teachers and students. Corruption cases should be seriously dealt with and anti-graft education should be strengthened," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)