University students can now major in China’s anti-corruption drive
- Graduates armed with law degrees can work for government ‘superagency’ to fight corruption
- 16 universities in China will train talent for President Xi’s stepped up signature campaign
In August, the Ministry of Education announced that 16 universities in China would establish majors in discipline inspection and supervision for undergraduate studies. The subject has also been added to the latest edition of the graduate education subject catalogue.
The NSC operates in parallel with the party’s top anti-corruption body, the CCDI. Together, they work “as one organisation with two names”, and have taken over the main anti-corruption functions from China’s prosecution offices, or procuratorates, with expanded supervisory power for the CCDI.
Zhu Jiangnan, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s politics and public administration department, said that creating a pool of people specialising in anti-corruption skills was something on the top of the to-do list of the Chinese government.
“With a new and more expansive system, the CCDI [Central Commission for Discipline Inspection] always lacks sufficient manpower, given the large number of cases to investigate every year,” Zhu said.
“The anti-corruption drive is going to remain unchanged,” Zhu said. “Establishing the discipline can be seen [in action] in line with President Xi’s vision of continuing the mission of the previous 10 years.”