On September 30, 2020, the first lecture of the Master's Degree course on Management of the Anti-corruption Policy at Public and Private Institutions was held within the scopes of the Educational Certification Program in Fighting Corruption.

It is the second year that the Certification Program in Fighting Corruption was launched and after a successful start, it was transformed accordingly. Instead of the 8 professional modules in the first year, 4 academic courses have been created as part of the Bachelor’s and Master’s programs at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the Ilia State University.

The mentioned academic course will be taken bystudents of the Ilia State University, and by the Master’s Degree students of other universities, representatives of the state, business, and non-governmental sectors who are selected by competition. It should be noted that students of the Ilia State Universitywill have the opportunity to receive academic credits and certificates in case of high evaluation, and if the candidates selected as a result of the competition, will pass the courses successfully, they will receive certificates.Anti-corruption coursesin Bachelor’s program were started on September 28 with the subjectGood Governance and Corruptionand will be lectured in parallel with the Master's courses.

The course Management of Anti-corruption Policy in the Public and Private institutionsis lectured byTinatin Khidasheli who is a consultant of international organizations. On the first day of the lecture, Giorgi Kldiashvili, Executive Director of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) addressed the participants of the course. Giorgi stressed the importance of fightingcorruption in Georgia, spoke about the devastating effects of corruption, and outlined that it is especially significant to raise public awareness and commitment concerning corruption and any possible manifestations of it.

Course participants of the Management of Anti-corruption Policy in Public and Private Institutions will study the following topics: International anti-corruption policy framework; Standards of ethics and prevention of conflicts of interest and corruption in the public sector;Corruption risk management, financial control mechanisms, gifts and hosting costs, charitable contributions/sponsorship; Corruption risk management in accountable enterprises; Corruption risk management in state-owned enterprises; Combating money laundering and terrorist financing in public, private and non-commercial legal entities (FATF Recommendations); The essence and significance of the whistleblowing; Scope of whistleblowing; The balance between a civil servant's freedom of expression and a commitment to the state; Guarantees of protection of the whistleblower and his/her equal; The difference between whistleblowing and information leakage; Protecting the anonymity of whistleblowers; Disclosure of confidential information; The confidentiality of the journalistic source; Rules of journalistic ethics; Restriction of search in media organization.

Together with the students of the Ilia State University, the course Management of Anti-corruption Policy in Public and Private Institutions involves 24 participants selected based on competition. In total, 44 participants were selected through a competition in the Certification Program in Fighting Corruption. 20 participants are enrolled in the bachelor’s program of the Certification Program in Fighting Corruption.

The Educational Certification Program in Fighting Corruption is financially supported by the Open Society Institute Budapest Foundation (OSI) and is co-financed by the Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF).