Hildesheim, Germany - A professor of law at a German university was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for receiving money from students wanting to obtain doctorates. A court in the city of Hildesheim found the 53-year-old guilty on 68 counts of corruption. The professor admitted to receiving 153,750 euros from a consultancy which recommended the students to him.
The money was paid between October 1996 and May 2005 in exchange for the man accepting the students as doctoral candidates although they did not meet the necessary academic requirements.
Of the 68 students accepted by the professor, only 10 went on to obtain the title of doctor.
The professor, who taught law at Leibnitz University in the city of Hanover, said he acted out of financial considerations because he was heavily in debt at the time.
During an earlier hearing, a female student of the professor was fined 1,800 euros (2,640 dollars) for trading sexual favours for inflated marks that landed her a plum job at the university.
The unnamed 30-year-old admitted to having had a five-year sexual relationship with the man, dubbed the "Campus Casanova" by the media.
Convicting the woman of corruption, the court found she had unfairly profited from her relationship with the professor to gain the post of assistant at the law faculty.
The 52-year-old head of the consultancy is also facing trial for corruption.
The consultancy is also alleged to have earned large sums through the transactions - up to 22,000 euros for a single doctorate - from lawyers aiming to increase their standing by having the title of doctor.
The problem is said to be widespread in Germany, where academic degrees are particularly highly regarded.
