31 August 2018 - Following the launch of UNODC's University Modules on Integrity and Ethics in June, the uptake of this unique series of teaching tools was boosted this month with the first lecturer workshop being hosted at the University of Oxford's Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE).
Part of the Education for Justice (E4J) initiative, the Modules are designed to enhance students' ethical awareness and commitment to acting with integrity and equip them with the necessary skills to apply and spread these norms in life, work and society. By connecting theory to practice, they encourage critical thinking, and use innovative interactive teaching approaches such as experiential learning and group-based work.
With the cross-disciplinary nature of the Modules in mind, the workshop brought together 20 university lecturers from different countries and teaching areas to exchange views about the Modules and the most effective approaches for teaching them. The participants spent the two days developing plans for incorporating the Modules within their courses in the coming months. They also engaged in productive discussions on how to evaluate and improve the Modules, promote their usage, foster ethical learning environments, and generally enhance integrity and ethics education at universities around the world.
The participants emphasized the added value of the Modules across countries and disciplines and their potential to shape the next generation of world leaders, professionals, and thinkers. They undertook to teach the Modules in the upcoming academic year, and to provide UNODC with feedback on the quality and user-friendliness of the materials. This will enable the organization to continuously improve the Modules and to develop tools and activities that would support lecturers in their teaching.
Most of the participants plan to use the Modules to strengthen the ethical components of their non-ethics courses. The Modules focus on core integrity and ethics topics such as universal values, ethics and society, ethical leadership, diversity and pluralism, behavioural ethics, gender dimensions of ethics, and how integrity and ethics relate to important fields such as media, business, law, public service and the various professions. They were developed by UNODC with the support of over 70 academic experts from more than 30 countries.
The University Modules on Integrity and Ethics, and other modules developed by E4J are available for lecturers across the globe online at www.unodc.org/e4j.
For further media enquiries, please contact:
Kevin Town
UNODC Public Information Officer
Telephone: +43 699 1459 5575
Email: kevin.town [a] un.org