Preventing Bribery in Educational Institution Environments

Bribery does not discriminate. It can occur in any organization or institution, including educational institutions. Ironically, educational institutions, which are supposed to be placed for building character and good morals, are damaged by individuals who commit acts of corruption, one of which is bribery.

In October 2015, an Indonesian private university was caught to have conducted value trading for graduate students. Not only that, but the university also practiced fraud for the admission of new students and even for the selection of institutional officials.

The practice of bribery and other acts of corruption in educational institutions has the potential to create a greater danger than other institutions. Corruption in educational institutions is economically and non-economically detrimental to students and their future. Corruption in educational institutions will also have a long-term impact that threatens equal access and quality education.

To prevent bribery, it is necessary to have an anti-bribery system in place that can detect bribery. This can be done by applying ISO 37001 as an Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS). ISO 37001 is an anti-bribery management system standard that is applied worldwide. Its aim is to help organizations – in this case, educational institutions – prevent, detect, and handle fraud and comply with laws and regulations that are related to anti-bribery.

The first tertiary institution to implement this system in Indonesia was the University of Jember (Unej). Unej implements ISO ABMS in order to make Unej a part of the Clean Bureaucracy Region (WBBM) as well as a Corruption-Free Region (WBK) in terms of academic and non-academic domains. Likewise, the University of Paramadina followed Unej’s lead to implement ISO ABMS to combat bribery and to strengthen their campus’ integrity.

Integrity Indonesia provides a comprehensive system for managing and implementing an Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS) in accordance with the ISO 37001 framework. In addition to training and consultation, Integrity Indonesia provides a system that is ready for use, consisting of digital solutions to be incorporated into standard operating procedures of our clients, such as employment screening that is integrated with various recruitment policies through the Prisma online screening application, vendor screening that combines onboarding, compliance questionnaires, and due diligence through the Knowyourvendor online application, and a whistleblowing system that provides a variety of internal reporting channels. Do not hesitate to contact us.

Written by: Aqilla

Photo by Poodar Chu on Unsplash