Tempe, May 11, 2018

The Arab and African countries face unprecedented challenges in the fight against corruption, money laundering, and financing terrorism (collectively called corruption hereinbelow). Irrespective of the differences among these countries in poverty levels, affluence, government debt, illiteracy, current account and/or budget deficits, unemployment rates, and political or governance system, the international community requires those countries to show clear commitment in the fight against corruption.

The American Anti-Corruption Institute (AACI) is present in many Arab and African countries since 2012. We, at The AACI, witnessed closely anti-corruption developments in many Arab and African countries. We also noticed that all these countries struggle with or lack the necessary proper and adequate tools and mechanisms to achieve their promulgated anti-corruption goals. Most importantly, they neither engage nor prepare university students, the leaders of tomorrow, to play their crucial role in paving the way to alleviate youth radicalization risks. The Arab and African governments are responsible for taking all the necessary steps ( i.e., laws, policies, rules, etc.) to define the role of their universities in the fight against corruption.

In the Arab and African countries, we believe that students can make or break any anti-corruption national strategy regardless of the country’s political will to eradicate corruption. We are aware of the real challenges of qualifying and preparing university students to play an active, innovative, and effective role in combatting corruption. Surprisingly, the Arab and African countries’ governments do not recognize the bitter fact that:

1. University students must be strategically engaged in the fight against corruption, and
2. All Arab and African universities do not teach anti-corruption and internal control courses at the bachelor or even the master degree level, and
3. Most Arab and African universities do not teach governance courses, and
4. Most Arab and African business schools teach management, accounting, and auditing using ineffective and obsolete academic methods, and
5. Most Arab and African business schools do not teach business ethics.
   
   

For the first time, we will soon make our Certified Anti-Corruption Manager (CACM) management credential available to the Arab and African universities. When the Arab and African university graduates are equipped with such a premier anti-corruption certification, they will be ready to take their part in the fight against corruption. Each Arab and African university leadership must provide their graduates with adequate anti-corruption intelligence to play their role in eradicating corruption. The Arab and African countries’ governments should hold their universities and academic institutions accountable to meet their respective duties in the fight against corruption.

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