GIACC’s University Anti-Corruption Course, “Preventing Corruption on Infrastructure Projects” provides prospective professionals who are studying subjects relevant to the infrastructure sector with the knowledge and understanding to help them avoid, prevent and deal effectively with any corruption which they may encounter in their professional lives.
The course materials are available free of charge to Universities.
The Course is intended to form part of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree or professional qualification for students who are studying subjects relevant to the infrastructure sector (e.g. engineering, architecture, project management, procurement, quantity surveying).
The course is designed to provide prospective professionals in the infrastructure sector with the knowledge and understanding to help them avoid, prevent and deal effectively with any corruption which they may encounter in their professional lives.
The course may also be of interest and use to students in other business sectors and in professional fields such as law, accounting, and business management. The analysis and examples given in this course focus on the infrastructure sector but are also applicable to, and can be adapted for, other sectors.
Corruption causes significant damage and undermines the proper functioning of society. It can have devastating consequences for those individuals and organisations who are affected by or involved in it. It is critical, therefore, that effective steps are taken to prevent corruption from the outset or, if it occurs, to deal with it appropriately.
The infrastructure sector is said to be one of the most corrupt sectors. It provides a multitude of opportunities for corruption. Professionals working in the sector are, at some time or even at numerous times in their professional lives, likely to be faced with dilemmas relating to corruption.
It is therefore of vital importance that, as part of their training, prospective professionals are taught about what corruption is, how and why it occurs on infrastructure projects, the cost of corruption, and how to avoid and deal with it. This course aims to fulfil this purpose.
The Course has been designed and written by GIACC. It is divided into the following eight sections:
The course content has been designed to be delivered in one term or semester.
The Course List of Contents shows a suggested division of the course content into 12 seminars. These 12 seminars have been designed to contain a reasonable length of reading and number of questions for each seminar. For a 12-week semester/term, this would allow for one seminar per week over the whole semester/term, or two seminars per week over a half semester/term. If a university or college has a different length of semester/term to 12 weeks, then it can choose an alternative seminar sub-division to the 12 suggested, or can adjust the weekly number of seminars.
The discussion material is intended to keep students fully occupied in discussion for seminar lengths of between 60 and 90 minutes. However, inevitably, the length of time this material takes to discuss will depend fundamentally on how actively students participate in the discussion. If they are very active, there may be too much material. If they are not, there may be too little material.
The course has been designed to be taught primarily by a combination of reading of the course material by the students in their own time followed by tutor-led discussion of that material in seminars. For this purpose, all Sections contain a series of questions on the content which the students need to consider in advance of the seminars.
However, the manner in which the course is taught is entirely at the discretion of the university or college. As an alternative to the above method, universities and colleges may prefer to teach the course materials in lectures.
If universities or colleges require written test questions to be completed by students, some of the questions contained in the Sections could be converted into questions requiring written answers rather than oral discussion.
In order to teach this course, the course tutor will need to have a full understanding of the course material so as to be able to facilitate discussion on the material with students. In addition, it would be preferable if the tutor had experience in the infrastructure sector as an understanding of the sector would be helpful in being able to facilitate discussion. However, it is not necessary for the tutor to be an expert in corruption.
This course may be used by a university or college in its current format and content, or it may be adapted by a university or college so as to fit its requirements. For example, the university or college may:
The materials contained in this course may be used and adapted by universities and colleges in whatever manner they wish, provided that they are used as part of their teaching curriculum.
GIACC does not charge any fee for the use of these materials. GIACC provides these course materials free of charge to users as a public service in an attempt to raise awareness of corruption and to help in the prevention and detection of corruption worldwide.
No consent is required from GIACC to use these materials.
The university or college using these materials may put their own name on the materials. However, there should be the following acknowledgement in a suitably prominent location in the materials:
This course is based on materials provided pro bono by the Global Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC). www.giaccentre.org
If your university or college wishes to consider providing the course to its students, and wishes to receive further information, or a copy of the course materials, please contact GIACC.
Updated on 8th September 2024
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