Earlier this year we posted Ten Ways to Bring Anti-Corruption Discussions into the Classroom, a selection of ways to bring this far-reaching and crucial topic into the classroom. According to the UN, every year $1 trillion is paid in bribes while an estimated $2.6 trillion is stolen annually through corruption—a sum equivalent to more than 5 per cent of the global GDP. In recognition of International Anti-Corruption Day on the 9th of December, here are ten more ways to bring anti-corruption discussions into the classroom.
- Make moral decisions in the morning: A study from Harvard University and the University of Utah found that the time of day affects our ability to resist moral temptations. The study done with undergraduate students in the US showed that they were less likely to engage in unethical behaviour on the tasks performed in the morning than those performed in the afternoon.
- Watch, discuss, or even create short videos: McCombs School of Business in the US created Ethics Unwrapped, a series of dozens of short animated videos that explore behavioural ethics, business ethics, and basic ideas in ethics education used as part of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) project.
- Look into where the money is going: Several initiatives exist internationally to empower and assist civil society groups in analysing and influencing public budgets in order to reduce poverty and improve quality of governance, including the International Budget Partnership and The Open Budget Initiative, which look at government budgets, and Publish What you Fund, which focuses on aid transparency. Others focus on the private sector including Publish What you Pay, a network of civil society organisations campaigning for transparency in the extractive industries.
- Look into what is happening in your country and get engaged with local organisations: The Global Corruption Barometer surveys the general public’s attitudes towards and experiences of corruption in dozens of countries. The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries by their perceived levels of corruption as determine by expert assessments, and The Bribe Payers Index looks at the likelihood of companies paying bribes to win business abroad.
- Use a case study to start the discussion: Vasilia Kilibarda and Adam Wayz from Northwestern University won the recent PRME/GVV award for Outstanding Case Study on Anti-Corruption for their case, “Through the Eyes of a Whistle-Blower: How Sherry Hunt Spoke Up About Citibank’s Mortgage Fraud” including a video supplement and teaching notes.
- Start a petition for change: Change.org allows individuals to post a public petition to one or more decision makers, asking them to do something towards a specific cause.
- Create a movement: The Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Network is a group of more than 4,000 Thai university students from more than 90 universities, recognised by the World Economic Forum. They aim to raise public awareness on the corrosive effects of corruption in Thai society.
- Offer your students a way to hone their skills: The Ethikum certificate is awarded by a state agency in Germany for students with outstanding engagement and competencies in ethics and sustainability. Forty per cent of all certificates in the state have been awarded to students of Pforzheim University, and in particular to students from the Business School.
- Take a deeper look at your schools. Check My School in the Philippines allows students to evaluate public schools across the country and to check the money budgeted for desks, textbooks and other supplies. The project was realised with the aim of improving service delivery in public education and promoting social accountability and transparency.
- Celebrate success: The Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado partnered with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs College of Business to create the GE Johnson Award for Marketplace Ethics. The award honors companies who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to create and maintain a fair marketplace through ethical business practices. Students from the university nominate companies and help companies to assess whether they meet the criteria for the award.
For more take a look at the PRME Anti-Corruption Toolkit, which provides guidance and additional resources for incorporating the topic of anti-corruption into the business school’s curriculum. Share your experiences in the comments section below.