The heads of some of Russia's most prestigious educational establishments yesterday admitted that students use surrogates to pass examinations for the most sought-after places. Students are using increasingly ingenious methods to gain entry to top institutes, whose qualifications are a passport to lucrative jobs. The surrogate students are only the latest symptom of an epidemic of corruption that has gripped the Russian higher education system. A report published this week by the Ministry of Education and Moscow's Higher School of Economics (HSE) showed that more than $300m (£165m) was paid in bribes to enter the country's educational establishments last year.