It may have been a crime of passion, but the recent stabbing of a Beijing college professor over an affair with a student has lifted the lid on an academic system riddled with corruption and scandal.

Fu Chengli was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Oct 20 for the murder of Cheng Chunming, 43, last year. He refused his right to appeal the conviction.

The 23-year-old, a student at the China University of Political Science and Law, fatally stabbed Chen in the neck because he believed the lecturer was having an affair with his girlfriend.

Fu's lawyer Ding Haiyang later confirmed the girl, a postgrad student surnamed Chen, admitted she was sleeping with her professor in order to secure a place on the college's PhD scheme, according to media reports.

The incident is an extreme case of the dark practices happening every day at colleges across China, say education and legal experts.

Between 1998 and last year, 54 cases of corruption had been uncovered in universities in Haidian district alone, according to statistics from the district procuratorate. There was only one case reported in 2004, but that figure rose to 15 in 2006.

In August, renowned professor Liang Maocun, 70, of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, admitted to having sex with a female student and accepting a bribe of 100,000 yuan ($14,000) in return for an assurance she would be entered into the college PhD scheme.

Many experts agree that there are many unwritten rules of college.

Chang Jiwen, a professor in social law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said campus scandals were becoming rampant and blamed an overall unhealthy social environment.