A Network Against Corruption

Now there is an academic network that creates a common space for knowledge and experience about working and teaching in the area of anti-corruption. The Anti-Corruption Academic Initiative (ACAD) has been joined by the Dept. of Legal Studies at Bocconi. The initiative is coordinated by Northeastern University in Boston and by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and is supported by a number of international organizations, including the OECD and the International Bar Association.

This undertaking is looking to create a network of universities – about thirty have already joined up – so as to facilitate cost-free sharing of members' materials (experiences, comments on real cases, course syllabi) with the goal of developing common modules for courses and seminars dealing with the topic of anti-corruption. These will be used to promote this subject in the universities' study curricula. "The creation of a network with a diversity of high-level universities around the world is the strength of this initiative", explains Leonardo Borlini, professor of advanced European law in the Dept. of Legal Studies and the project's contact at Bocconi. "In this way it is possible to share teaching materials and knowledge that would otherwise be confined within the individual universities, and to use this exchange to develop common courses of study. Another advantage is the active participation in meetings and in the network itself by international organizations like the UN and the OECD".