A study visit on academic integrity issues to higher education institutions of the Geneva Canton took place on 12-15 March 2018. It was organised in collaboration with UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning. The Montenegrin delegation was composed by nine representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Council for Higher Education, one private university, the University of Montenegro and its ethical body, the Student’s Parliament. They had an opportunity to learn from presentations of their Swiss peers, as well as to share experiences on strategies and policies in the fight against academic misconduct with the Geneva Canton's counterparts.

The institutions visited included: the Department of Public Instruction of the Canton of Geneva, the International Institute for Research and Action on Academic Fraud and Plagiarism, the University of Geneva, Polytechnic School from Paris, Geneva School of Economics and Management, Swiss Foundation for Innovation and Training in Surgery, Swiss Accreditation Council and the Swiss Agency for Accreditation and Quality Assurance as well as other institutions with expertise in this area.

The group benefited from a comprehensive set of presentations and discussion sessions. All of the latter arouse a great deal of interest among the participants, which hints at the high relevance of the concept of integrity in the higher education system of Montenegro.

The visit has had an immediate impact. Namely, the working group tasked with the development of the Law on Academic Integrity has decided to include on it a similar concept of the Ethical Board at national level, as presented at Geneva University.

The study visit was organised as part of the Horizontal Facility Action “Strengthen integrity and combat corruption in higher education in Montenegro”, which is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.