Fraud Centre shortlisted for top higher education award

An initiative to help train professionals in the fight against fraud and financial crime has been shortlisted for an award at this year's Times Higher Education Awards.

The awards ceremony - a key date in the higher education calendar - takes place at Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London, on Thursday 23 October 2008.

Teesside Business School’s shortlisted entry is for its foundation degree in fraud management and its MA in financial investigation and financial crime - both established to meet requests for education and staff development from fraud prevention bodies, including government bodies, police agencies and the private sector.

The entry is shortlisted for the Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative award. Alastair Thomson, Dean of the Business School, said: ‘On the heels of the recognition we received from our partners when we launched our new Centre for Fraud and Financial Crime it is doubly pleasing to be shortlisted for the academic quality of our work in the field of fraud prevention.’

In turbulent economic times fraud is more prevalent Fred Hutchinson, Director of the Centre for Fraud and Financial Crime, said: ‘In these turbulent economic times fraud is likely to be more prevalent than ever, as people try to maintain their businesses and reputation.’

At the launch of the new centre, Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Wilmott, Head of the Economic Crime Department of the City of London Police, welcomed the new initiative and urged public law enforcement agencies and the private sector to pull together to fight financial crime by sharing databases and professionalising the education and training of specialists in the fight against ever more sophisticated forms of financial crime.

Only the best made it through to the shortlist Ann Mroz, Editor of Times Higher Education, said: ‘Our Awards recognise the very best in higher education in the UK and we are delighted to announce that Teesside Business has made it onto the shortlist for the Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative Award. Our senior advisory panel has been taken from all fields of academia and had to choose from hundreds of first-class entries – only the best made it through to our shortlist.’

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