New Leadership and New Initiatives at the International Anti-Corruption Academy

The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) was founded in 2010 in Vienna, Austria, to provide anti-corruption education and training to professionals and practitioners, advance new research in the field, serve as a platform for dialogue and networking among specialists, and develop anti-corruption strategies and guidelines. At the end of November 2025, Drago Kos, one of IACA’s lecturers and previously Chair of the OECD’s Working Group on Bribery, was appointed as the Academy’s new Interim Dean, to follow Slagjana Taseva. Kos spoke recently with BriberyMatters about his vision for IACA’s future.  

One issue that Kos would like to tackle is a lack of sufficient funding for IACA. He would like to augment the steady inflow of funds for training programs and voluntary contributions by introducing minimum fees for the 78 governments and four international organizations that make up the Academy’s membership. Kos plans a program of extensive outreach to a range of other international organizations and governments to implement this idea.

Next, Kos wants to improve IACA’s curriculum. He explained that currently IACA offers two core Master’s degrees – in anti-corruption studies and in compliance and collective action – as well as a Certificate in collective action, and runs training programs for governments’ anti-corruption agencies and private corporations. Kos would like the IACA faculty and renowned international experts to review those programs to better target current challenges, which include the risks and anti-corruption opportunities stemming from machine learning and artificial intelligence, and the new landscape for anti-corruption policy and practice driven by political changes in some countries.

As Kos explains, without the US spearheading the fight, there is a risk that other countries may backslide. He says the US provided both a positive model to follow, by encouraging ethical business conduct, and the “stick” of FCPA enforcement. As Kos puts it, “The most important link is now missing, and others need to step up, and we have to do it collectively.” He feels that over the past year, “what used to be abnormal is now considered normal.” To resist that trend, he thinks IACA can advance stronger national legal instruments, international cooperation, and rigorous enforcement. Kos has his eye on geographic expansion, and particularly on engaging more with the Gulf, Latin America, Africa and Asia. He notes that IACA already has over 7,000 alumni from around the world, but he would like to establish branches offering the same programming as in Vienna, allowing more students to participate and generating a multiplier effect.

Kos also wants to introduce at IACA, in addition to training for government officials, civil society leaders and students, a greater focus on private sector education. Kos plans to roll out ethics, integrity and anti-corruption training for CEOs and corporate boards. As he says, “We won’t make them specialists, but they will learn to center integrity in their daily work, responsibilities and duties.” In particular, Kos is eyeing the US business community, noting that the law enforcement agencies of some countries “are currently on high alert when their companies do business with US companies.” Kos feels he is well-positioned to drive this evolution of IACA’s relationship with the business community, given, as he put it, that he is “a practitioner currently serving as an academic.” While IACA will remain grounded in its academic function, he feels that “theory is not enough if it doesn’t turn into practical achievement.” Kos is already reaching out to major multinational corporations to attract these potential new types of students.

Kos closed his discussion with BriberyMatters by turning to some of the bright spots he sees, notwithstanding the current state of affairs. As he notes, “We still have the FCPA, enforcement might come back, and we also have international standards that have not changed.” He is heartened by the new joint British, French and Swiss International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce. He notes that many countries have extended their jurisdictional reach on anti-corruption, which could provide avenues to deal with cases in which a US official or company is implicated in bribery allegations, if the US is unwilling to act. He is glad to see governments in Asia, Africa and the Gulf expressing more interest in fighting corruption and closing the gap with the West. In his view, IACA, with its focus on practical training, can play an important role in that process. “We can’t afford to lose anything more in the anti-corruption fight,” Kos says. “There is always a time for academics, but the important time for expert practitioners is now.”