IACA celebrated the graduation of its eighth Master in Anti-Corruption Studies (MACS) and third graduation for the International Master in Anti-Corruption and Compliance (IMACC) classes in a festive ceremony on 2 December 2022. Graduation of the master’s classes is always a memorable and proud time for IACA. This year again, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony was conducted in an interactive online format.
The new graduates come from 25 countries around the world: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Egypt, Ecuador, Guatemala, Gambia, Ghana, India, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Malaysia, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Norway, Netherlands, Nigeria, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and Zambia. Their professional backgrounds are equally diverse - the classes included members of civil society, auditors, prosecutors, compliance managers, law enforcement officers, and lawyers. Delivering his laudation, Mr. Thomas Stelzer, Dean of IACA, told the graduates that they "truly represent IACA’s international character.” He also urged them to play a leading role in the fight against corruption and in facilitating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The guest of honour at the ceremony was Mr. Hans Heiner Kuehne, Chairperson of IACA’s International Academic Advisory Board (ISAB). In his speech, he congratulated the graduates for overcoming the hardships that came along with studying during the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed his gratitude for having “accomplished together this great aim to improve our capacities at fighting international and national corruption.”
The graduates and guests also heard from Professors Peter Rosner and Johannes Maerk, who chaired the respective Academic Defence Committees, and Mr. Pawan Kumar Sinha, Director of Academic Programmes at IACA.
This year we had the pleasure and honour to welcome Ms. Sabine Zindera, Vice President at Siemens AG in Legal and Compliance, who addressed the graduates, highlighting the importance of the Alumni Network in the fight against corruption. She reminisced that over more than ten years of cooperation, Siemens Integrity Initiative supported many IACA students around the globe by financing or co-financing their tuition fees.
Ms. Jovita Matos Fazenda and Ms. Anita Moses Mankhambo, elected as the MACS 2020 class representatives, emphasized the struggles that had to be overcome to complete a challenging degree amid a pandemic and were proud to have been part of a strong and united IACA collective. They have congratulated their colleagues for choosing to be “heroes without capes, embarking on a journey full of thorns, but which is sure to deliver its own glories”. Finally, Mr. Eduardo Nunes da Silva, the elected representative for the IMACC 2020 class, expressed gratitude to all family members, friends, staff and lecturers from IACA and the people without whom the students could not have been here, celebrating this joyous occasion.
Mr. Huawei Zhang from China won the award for the best IMACC Master’s Thesis with his work “How Does the MDB Cross-Debarment System Curb Corruption? From the Perspective of Deterrence Theory”.
Ms. Anita Moses Mankhambo from Malawi won the award for the Best MACS Master’s Thesis with her work entitled “Examining the Challenges Faced by Real Estate Agents in Implementing Anti-Corruption and Anti-Money Laundering Requirements - A Case Study of Malawi.”
The Most Innovative Master’s Thesis award went to Mr. Michel Levien Gonzalez from Mexico for his research on the role of status in corruption.
The ceremony brought together the families and friends of the graduates, representatives of the diplomatic community, the faculty, and IACA staff.
