A new curriculum to counter crime

Higher education authorities in Argentina are remodelling their curricula to enable students to be sleuths post-graduation. Organised crime has flourished in the region as drug and human traffickers moved to evade security forces in traditional strongholds such as Mexico and Colombia. Criminal groups such as BACRIM and Los Zetas are attracted by the high living standard and sophisticated transport infrastructure in Argentinian cities like Rosario, Buenos Aires and Córdoba.

Organised crime specialist, Eduardo Salcedo-Albarán, is assisting universities to create new curricula. “The structures of these [criminal] networks are complex,” Salcedo-Albarán says. “There are businessmen and women, bankers and government officials who provide information and contribute to the networks’ successes.

“Students studying business or hotel and catering, for example, should be taught to detect money laundering and other suspicious transactions,” he says. Belgrano University is one of 10 tertiary institutions that have launched seminars on how to stop drug trafficking. The subject area will, in time, also be tackled by high schools.

Category: Autumn 2015