The future is now in higher education

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” — William Pollard

As tools for teaching and methods of delivery have evolved, so has anti-fraud education. The members of the ACFE Higher Education Advisory Committee are interested in advancing anti-fraud education in colleges and universities. As chair for the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to share my thoughts with readers through this column. In this issue, three members of the committee comment on the current state of anti-fraud education and offer some words of wisdom for aspiring fraud examiners and their teachers.

Governmental perspective

Ken Dieffenbach, CFE, is a senior special agent with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Fraud Detection Office. He’s made hundreds of presentations about fraud to a variety of audiences, including those at the ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

“Fraud teaching methods, along with most all topics, require the use of short, interactive lessons to keep students engaged,” Dieffenbach says. “I have found that old-school reading and lecture methods are much less effective.