ANTI-CORRUPTION EDUCATION AT TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

The article considers the main activities of a modern technical university in the field of anti-corruption education targeted at the development of the generic competencies in future professionals. The article is based on the author’s observations gained during his work at the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” as an anti-corruption officer of the University, department head and professor. The main activities of modern technical university in the abovementioned field should aim at introducing anti-corruption topics or subtopics into the courses; offering special optional courses; elaboration of anticorruption programme of the university and its implementation; ensuring anti-corruption training of the personnel; including issues on preventing and combating corruption in the advanced training programmes for public servants; adherence of teaching staff and university administration to high standards of professional ethics. The author proposes topics and subtopics to be included in the curricula for students in different specialisations and into training programmes for postgraduate education. University graduates should be motivated, skilful professionals with a formed proficient mental attitude with regard to the aversion of corruption.


Introduction
One of the top current priorities of the Ukrainian state is the implementation of systemic reforms targeted at preventing and combating corruption in all fields of state functioning.Technical universities carrying out training of future engineers and other professionals should be involved in this process.The essential component in obtaining university education is the development of generic competences such as ability to act on the basis of ethical reasoning, with social responsibility and civic awareness, ability to be critical and self-critical (Generic competences, n.d.).In the author's opinion, one of the most important manifestations of such generic competences shall be forming negative attitude in students towards corruption and its non-acceptance.Proper pedagogical influence consisting in teaching anti-corruption principles in academic disciplines would lead to combating systemic corruption at every level.
The purpose of this article is to highlight and to develop the main directions of anti-corruption education in a modern technical university targeted at the development of the abovementioned generic competencies in future professionals.

Method
The author used systematic, logical, axiological and other methods of research.The dataset required for writing the article was obtained by personal author's observations gained during his work at the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" as an anti-corruption officer of the University, department head and professor.Relevant activities, which resulted from obtained empirical data, included the development of curriculum, training programmes, their application in practice and carrying out control over their application in practice by teaching staff of the University.Personal author's observations have been confirmed by interviewing students, graduates and lecturers, managerial personnel of the University, and by analysing the curricula.Conclusions and suggestions for advanced training programmes are based on the investigation of existing training programmes implemented in the Institute for Postgraduate Education of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.Anti-corruption activities of the University comprise monitoring the compliance with laws on preventing and combating corruption by teaching and managerial staff as well as relations with regulatory authorities.

Anti-corruption education in Ukraine
The Anti-corruption strategy for 2014-2017 approved by the Law of Ukraine, provides for the educational activities only in the following fields: training officials on the issues of ethics and compliance with anti-corruption requirements; guidance on the issues of honest reporting of corruption; taking measures aimed at spreading information on anti-corruption programmes (Zakon Ukrayiny No.1699-VII, 2014).
However, it is obvious that such training is insufficient.Knowledge of anti-corruption measures and obligations is insufficient to develop a positive legal consciousness of the citizens regarding non-acceptance of corruption.The research shows that one of the reasons for corruption in low-income countries is lack of educational information of human rights and citizen's rights (Rao & Georgas, 2016).In order to form the relevant mental characteristics, it is necessary to understand the depth of harmfulness of this phenomenon to the nation (Komalasari & Saripudin, 2015).Incorruption culture plays a significant role in avoiding incorruption risks (Li, 2015).
University graduates should be motivated, professionally oriented and trained professionals with a formed mental attitude with regard to corruption aversion.Some Ukrainian universities have implemented academic anti-corruption disciplines into the curriculum for the students of legal and administrative specialisations.However, they refer to Master training programmes.For example, National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine proposes optional course "Preventing and combating corruption" for 11 Master courses (Master programmes, n.d).The same approach we can find in the National University of Life and Environmental Science of Ukraine (Kataloh navchal'nykh planiv, 2015).
With the idea to improve the level of graduates' knowledge in the sphere of anti-corruption and other rights and duties we would advise introducing the elements of anti-corruption training a bit earlier, at the Bachelor level, instead.It is important to mention that a lawyer or a civil servant knows the anti-corruption legislation and the main anti-corruption measures as a result of studying administrative law and specialised courses on public service.Bakunchyk (2016) points out that it's necessary to include anti-corruption courses in education process from secondary schools to higher and postgraduate educational institutions.Also, Zamaletdinov et al. (2016) who studied the effectiveness of anti-corruption policy in universities, point out the importance of development and implementation of specific anti-corruption programmes and activities, as round tables, "anti-corruption weeks", special anti-corruption university sections.
In a technical university, we advise implementing anti-corruption issues in Bachelor degree programmes not only within humanitarian courses forming generic competences (Law, Psychology, Ethics, etc), but also within the courses on professional standards, management, innovative entrepreneurship, implementation of start-ups, etc.

Developing anti-corruption curriculum for engineering students
Nowadays any professional having a degree in arts or sciences should acquire relevant competences, knowledge and skills in the field of preventing and combating corruption.However, the scope of such knowledge and relevant competencies varies depending on the profession.Some specialisations should include separate anti-corruption courses (e.g.Public Administration, Public Service, Law, Management, military specialisations).
Integrating anti-corruption issues into academic programmes on political science, public administration, criminal justice, or international law is very common for universities all around the world (Chene, 2013).There's also a trend to integrate anti-corruption content with existing curricula, with specific reference to MBA programmes (Anti-corruption guidelines ("Toolkit") for MBA curriculum change, 2012).Zinnbauer (2013) proposes to consider as key elements for integration into specific courses, for example: the business and societal case against corruption, the empirical debunking of common myths about the alleged benign or negligible impact of corruption, the individual risks and particular risk profiles for specific corporate functions and an introduction to practical tools and approaches for building corporate integrity systems, all anchored in empirical evidence and practical real-world case studies.
At the same time, at some specialisations related topics or issues should be included in the curriculum (Law for non-legal students, Business Law for non-legal students, Psychology, Political Science, Professional Ethics, Introduction to Profession, Public Administration and Local Self-government, etc.).
Thus, it may be appropriate to introduce a separate topic or subtopic "Legal Framework for Corruption Prevention" in the Law course curriculum for engineering students.The following issues can be addressed within such a topic: 1.The essence of corruption in a public and private sector. 2. Individual rights to protection from corruption offences.
3. System of authorities on preventing and combating corruption.4. Subjects of corruption offences.5. Liability for corruption offences.
Therefore, studying Law (for non-law students) should form generic competence regarding awareness of one's rights and legal framework for the protection from corruption offences, and promote the formation of competence regarding non-acceptance of corruption.
At many specialisations in Ukraine freshmen study the course "Introduction to Profession" (at various departments and at various universities such course may be titled differently, or related issues can be studied within broader courses).When teaching this course, some attention should be paid to the level of individual responsibility for decisions and possible corruption risks during respective working activity.For this purpose, relevant topics concerning future professional responsibilities on the abovementioned issues may be singled out in the course curriculum.A future engineer or a student of another specialisation, being at the starting point of his/her career, should clearly understand the level of responsibility in future professional activity regarding corruption risks.Moreover, while teaching "Introduction to profession" it is important to attract students' attention to the extremely negative impact of corruption practices on professional activity and on society in general.
To our point of view, preparing engineers and other professionals (not lawyers) for the work in various sectors of the economy should include raising awareness of legal principles of business.The importance of this statement is explained by the fact that our state must set quite ambitious goals to ensure a sharp increase of GDP in the coming years (Zhylinska et al., 2017;Zgurovsky, 2014).Technical universities should play a significant role in this process, teaching young people how to launch an independent business, develop and establish start-ups.Therefore, an engineer, an inventor and another professional should know the basics of Business Law and concluding business contracts, and understand the procedure of business registration, and relationships with public administration authorities.The above necessitates the study of Business Law by the students of non-legal specialisations.
Since corruption risks appear most commonly in relations with public administration authorities, Business Law curriculum (for non-legal students) should include particular issues of legal framework of preventing corruption in economy management filed and anti-corruption warning in commercial contracts.
The relevant issues should also be considered in teaching Management, including Management of Startups, and Psychology.University graduates should acquire knowledge and skills in managing certain groups of people, and be prepared to take certain management decisions in their future professional activity.During such activities (both in public and private sector) corruption risks and conflicts of interest often appear requiring settlement, as well as other conflicts.Therefore, Management curriculum should provide the basis for conflict of interest prevention and resolution, assessment of risks, their avoidance and reduction.It is advisable to include the issues on conflict resolution, including conflicts of interest that arise in the field of preventing and detecting corruption, to the chapters on conflicts in Psychology curriculum.
Nowadays, general humanities courses in Ukrainian universities are mostly optional.In view of the above, the curators of educational groups should advise their students to choose the legal courses and courses on management, study of which will develop competence, knowledge and ability to effectively promote and protect their rights and interests in the legal and administrative fields.

Curriculum for law students
All of the issues mentioned above refer to training of engineers and other professionals (not lawyers) to work in various sectors of the economy.Teaching Bachelors of Law, special attention should be paid to the study of legal means for preventing corruption.These issues relate not only to technical universities, which may prepare lawyers, focused primarily on the work at industrial enterprises, but also to law schools and other universities.For example, the course of Criminal Law should include the issues on corruption criminal offences (the object and the elements of offences).The significance of these issues within the university curriculum is explained by the wide spread of such offences.Besides, studying the characteristics of criminal offences against life and health, usually cause much fewer misunderstandings than studying the characteristics of corruption ones.
It is necessary to pay special attention to the issue of corruption criminal offenses within Criminal Procedural Law and Criminalistics courses curriculum.Training programmes should take into account the specificity of place and circumstances of the offence, and those who commit such offences, and, in some cases, can exert pressure on the investigation and trial.Indeed, in many cases, appropriate investigation of criminal offences has its peculiarities.
Business Law curriculum should provide the application of anti-corruption clauses in commercial contracts.Administrative Law and Tax Law curricula should include the issues of protection of client's interests from illegal and possible corruption activities on the part of public administration.

Teacher education
We advise ensuring the implementation of anti-corruption training of teaching staff at universities, including professors and other lecturers.For this very purpose, modern anti-corruption legislation requires the approval of anti-corruption programmes and obligation to adhere to them.Technical universities of Ukraine face some challenges in the course of establishment of anti-corruption programmes.On the one hand, they should have such programmes for the implementation of economic agreements on conducting scientific researches funded by the state.On the other hand, their anti-corruption programmes should be consistent with the anti-corruption programme of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.The anti-corruption programme of the Ministry has not been developed due to the lack of model anti-corruption programme.Therefore, technical universities have developed and adopted the respective programmes individually.
The National Aviation University and Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute were the pioneers among technical universities of Ukraine which elaborated the anti-corruption programmes in 2015 (Anticorruption Programme of KPI, 2015, Anti-corruption Programme of NAU, 2015).Anti-Corruption Programme of the Ministry of Education was approved only by Order No. 313 dated February 27, 2017(Antykoruptsiyna prohrama Ministerstva, 2017).
According to The Law on Higher Education ( 2014), research and teaching staff have the right to undergo advanced training.Moreover, providing the staff with advanced training refers to the procedures and measures of the higher education establishments aimed at ensuring high quality of education.Technical universities in Ukraine usually have specialised departments providing professional continuing education to academic and teaching staff, for example, Institute for Postgraduate Education, functioning on the basis of the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute".We must admit that very often advanced training still provides for the increasing computer literacy, improving business and scientific writing skills.We consider the abovementioned training to be outdated in modern conditions.Unfortunately, the issue of anti-corruption education of teaching staff has not been raised yet.
Given the above situation, it is clear that anti-corruption training must be taken into account in the advanced training programmes.Teaching staff must know and understand the anti-corruption measures envisaged by the state anti-corruption policy, and acquire appropriate skills and techniques required for corresponding teaching practice, including the formation in students the negative attitude towards corruption.
For example, it is important that advanced training programmes for teachers include the following issues: corruption risks in public and private sector; subjects of corruption; formation of negative attitude to corruption; preventing and eliminating conflicts of interest (legal instruments of detection, preventing and resolving situations involving a conflict of interest); anti-corruption limitations in official activities; liability for corruption offences.
The following additional matters may also be relevant in advanced training programmes for university managerial staff: legal grounds for declaration of assets and income as a means of combating corruption; preventing corruption in public procurement.
The author of the article organised more than 5 special open lectures, seminars and meetings in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in 2015-2017 years for teaching and managerial staff.The subjects of these events covered implementing of anti-corruption programme of the University, anti-corruption electronic declaration implementing, avoiding and resolution of conflicts of interests in educational sphere.Information brochures on the same subjects were issued for university officials (Kravchuk, 2017).Besides, special chapter on the website of the university was created (http://kpi.ua/en/anticor).It contains web-pages with main information on anti-corruption activity of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and contains links to its anti-corruption programme and to current main anti-corruption legislation and international treaties.

Advanced training programmes for public servants
The abovementioned issues might also be relevant in training programmes for the civil servants and local government officials, employees of the state and municipal enterprises and organisations that may be provided by postgraduate education departments of technical universities.
It is a common practice to organise anti-corruption trainings for public servants in Eastern Europe (Training of public servants, 2014).It could be one of perspective ways of cooperation of the universities and public and local authorities.Such cooperation allows universities to enhance their image as modern social development-oriented institutions, and allows them to get some additional income for these trainings.
The appropriate advanced training programmes for civil servants and local government officials shall include the following matters: assessment of corruption risks; preventing and eliminating conflicts of interest (legal instruments of detection, preventing and resolving situations involving a conflict of interest); anti-corruption limitations in official activities; legal grounds for declaration of assets and income as a measure of combating corruption; preventing corruption in public procurement; liability for corruption offences.
When talking about advanced training of law enforcement officials (police, Prosecutor`s Office, courts, etc.), advanced training programmes may additionally include specific matters, which include preventing corruption in law enforcement and the judicial system, criminal legal measures for corruption combating, administrative responsibility for corruption offences.

Personal example
A personal example may be provided as one of informal means of anti-corruption training.It concerns teaching students as well as training personnel.University management at all levels (from the rector and dean to heads of the departments, laboratories), professors and lecturers should set an example of corruption non-acceptance, declare corruption inadmissibility and postulate the impossibility of its manifestations, actively react to possible facts of corruption in the educational process of a particular university.Students and teaching staff should clearly understand that corruption is unacceptable in this particular educational institution, and the whole university community will fiercely oppose to its evidence.By demonstrating the relevant positive behaviour for students and lecturers, it is possible to obtain more efficient results in achieving the purpose of developing in students the above-mentioned competences, knowledge and skills.
It's obvious that educational institutions should be the best sample of fairness.Ten years ago Ukrainian system of higher education was considered as having a high level of corruption (Osipan, 2007).The situation changed after beginning in 2008 the independent testing system for admissions to universities.Since that time, Ukrainian universities have got good chances to be considered as free from corruption institutions and show to the world the example and further way of Ukrainian society development.It's an aim of high level of importance.If the school system cannot be trusted, it may detract from a nation's sense of social cohesion, the principal ingredient of all successful modern societies (Heyneman, 2004).Changes in higher education's role in improving the level of incorruption culture require not only the changes in universities as public institutions.They also require the changes in students' and scientists' attitude because the famous universities' problem related to corruption is academic dishonesty (Denisova-Schmidt & Prytula, 2017).
The measure of high importance which can be considered as a personal example is providing of a high level of transparency in university activities in all fields (teaching, scientific, business and other activities).Every state-owned university in Ukraine is a public institution and provides the information on using of public funds and properties on its own site.A lot of data should be provided on request as public information according to The Law on Access to Public Information (2011).Information about admission to universities is also open and provided on universities sites and on the special site for admission in Ukraine (http://www.vstup.info).Finally, such informational activities of universities allow everybody to control them as public institutions and serves as a good anti-corruption example of university activities.It's really important as a way of constructing transparent relationships with main stakeholders of higher educational system.

Conclusion
Therefore, the main activities of a modern technical university in the field of anti-corruption education comprise: 1) introduction of anti-corruption topics or issues into general and special courses.
2) selection and mastering by students of optional courses in Law and Management, forming the competences of administration, ethics, critical thinking, human rights protection, teamwork, holding negotiations etc., 3) offering special optional courses on preventing and combating corruption to Law and Management students; 4) development and implementation of anti-corruption programme of the university; 5) ensuring anti-corruption training of teaching and managerial academic staff during advanced training programmes; 6) declaration and demonstration by teachers and other staff of high standards of professional ethics, rejection of corruption, its unacceptability in university; 7) implementation of high-level transparency in university activities in all fields (teaching, scientific, business and other activities); 8) inclusion of the issues on preventing and combating corruption into the advanced training programmes for civil servants and local government officials, employees of the state and municipal enterprises and organisations performed by the postgraduate education departments.