Al-Ahliyya Amman University participates in a workshop for establishing educational curriculum for integrity

A workshop was organized by the General Secretariat of the Arab Network for Integrity Education, in collaboration with TIRI to Integrity Organization and the American University of Sharjah. The workshop aims to develop a BA program in the Arab universities in order to teach the principles of integrity to students. The workshop saw a wide participation by heads and faculty members of the Arab universities, specialists in anti-corruption, integrity and transparency issues in the Arab world, and representatives of global organizations interested in teaching principles of integrity issues. The workshop was inaugurated with a speech delivered by Dr. Malik Amayreh, Executive Director of the Network, in which he referred to the importance of integrating the educational program of integrity in curricula, scientific research, joint ventures and scientific conferences in Arab universities, and developing specialized training courses for teachers who will undertake teaching integrity courses. This will standardize trends, develop content, and ensure its reflection of real life. The detailed outline of the study plan which constitute the curriculum content include nineteen units that cover corruption definition, its scientific and social concepts, and its forms and consequences on the community, as well as reducing the gap between theory and practical application, the current challenges in countering corruption, ways of building integrity in public institutions, professions and society, the laws that undertake legislative prevention of corruption, the role of media and information in overcoming corruption, the role of civil society, mobilizing the youth to promote eliminating corruption in all its political, social and economic forms, and systematically engaging students in effective intellectual events to raise awareness of integrity and its role in the fight against corruption and reducing its negative effects on individuals and society. The participants in the workshop listened to a number of lectures presented by specialists from TIRI to Integrity Organization and the Arab Network for Integrity Education. International experiences in this field were addressed in order to build a curriculum that is based on international experiences, current reality, and the outcomes of confronting corruption in all its forms and practices. This will help gather social and academic institutions against corruption and build a collective awareness of integrity as a preventive action to confront and uproot corruption. On the sidelines of the workshop, an agreement was signed between the Arabic Network for Integrity Education and Assiut University in Egypt under which the University will join the Network and the group of the Arab Universities that are active in the field of building an educational integrity and anti-corruption system. At the end of the workshop, it was agreed to continue working to complete the accession of Arab Universities to the Network, activate teaching integrity courses in the Arab universities, and organize specialized training courses by the Network for teachers of the integrity courses. The Arabic Network for Integrity Education, which was founded in 2009 and its General Secretariat is based in Al-Ahliyya Amman University, had commenced its activities in 2011 during the meeting held in Sharm Al-Sheikh. Sharm Al-Sheikh Declaration for Integrity Education was launched and the Network future strategic plan was approved.