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In a surprise move, the president of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany this week announced plans to overhaul controversial contracts governing the use of a €150 million donation from a philanthropic foundation. Critics have charged that the agreement gives the donor too much control over publishing decisions and faculty appointments at the school’s Institute of Molecular Biology, which the foundation helped create in 2009. The move, which could eventually influence similar funding arrangements at other German universities, only partly satisfies critics. They are pushing for greater transparency from universities and donors.

In a bid to promote district level accountability in the delivery of education services, Action Aid has introduced an innovation which will address challenges to achieving high education standards. According to an Action Aid Project Officer in Mangochi, the initiative would address social accountability by working with the district council and building the capacity of various players in decision making positions to understand inclusive and accountable governance.

The first seminar on "Corruption, Transparency and Education" was held on May 28, 2016 at the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus by Transparency International-Cyprus (TI-C). TI-C has included in its Strategic Plan for 2016 the important issue of education in an effort to raise awareness and build capacity for primary school teachers on Transparency, corruption and education. Given the success of the first seminar, TI-C looks forward to conducting more seminars for interested teachers who will act as the force to building capacity for the youngsters and ensure that they will not tolerate corruption.

German university heads have welcomed proposals by the Stifterverband – a network of foundations, businesses and individuals supporting the country’s higher education and research – for improved transparency in collaborations between universities and industry. The recommendations, issued in mid-April, stress the “responsibility of universities, as autonomous institutions, to regularly and appropriately inform the public about their collaborative projects with industry”.

Non-governmental organizations (NGO) have stated there are corruption schemes in the Ministry of Education and Science related to budget funds allocated for the needs of schools. According to the leader of NGO Maidan Information the Ministry of Education issued an order, according to which only one firm can supply school equipment. He noted that most equipment in schools have not been updated since the Soviet times, therefore it is unclear what happens with the UAH 200 million in state funds set aside for this purpose.

Corruption Watch conducted 10 investigations into allegations of corruption in schools during the past year, making it one of its corruption hotspots for 2015, according to its annual report released on Wednesday. "In all 10 cases the school principal was found to be the main culprit involved in the corrupt activities," the organisation said. Reports on corruption in schools made up 16% of the total complaints lodged with Corruption Watch, according to the report.

In order to combat corruption, one first has to recognize it and stop treating it as something “normal.” Activists argue that public education is the key to reversing attitudes that allow societies to remain complacent to corruption. In this context, three youth anti-corruption networks from Central and Eastern Europe are sharing their experiences in a new documentary series about corruption in education, which is now available online.

The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) has launched a massive Anti-Corruption awareness campaign in schools. The objective of the campaign is to create awareness among students about the effects of corruption and their role in the fight against corruption as future leaders. The LACC Anti-Corruption awareness campaign is an initiative of the Commission’s Education & Prevention Division which is partnering with the Pursuit for Positive Action Youth Organization (PPAYO).

Following last month’s report by Transparency International, which ranked Rwanda as the fourth least corrupt country in Africa, The New Times spoke to the country’s Chief Ombudsman to make sense of current efforts against corruption. She says Rwanda can do more to fight corruption, starting by educating those who are still young by including values of integrity on the curriculum for primary schools. Teaching the right values to young people is key in fighting against corruption and it is in line with the country’s anti-graft policy.