| 520 |
|
|
|a Beware. There can be an element of corruption when universities work with industry too closely. International AntiCorruption Day, organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), will be celebrated this Friday. The slogan for the 2005 anticorruption campaign is "You can stop corruption". In this context, education plays an important role but education itself can also be exposed to corrupt practices. Recently, journalistauthor Jennifer Washburn highlighted the extent of corrupt practices in her book, University Inc: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education (Basic Books, 2005). Washburn alleges that various form of unethical intrusions are undermining the academia, exposing it to corrupt practices, even among the most prestigious institutions of higher learning. At the very least, it erodes the very basis of free inquiry and thus threatens independent thought which is what universities are set up for.
|
