Immersive Learning for Integrity and Anti-Corruption Education in Higher Education: Conceptual Foundations and Best Practices from the UQU10903 Integrity and Anti-Corruption Course in UTHM

Abstract

Integrity and anti-corruption education in higher education requires learning designs that move beyond legal literacy and moral instruction towards applied ethical judgment, civic agency and behavioural preparedness. In Malaysia, the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2024-2028 identifies education as a central strategy and calls for strengthening integrity and anti-corruption courses in higher learning institutions. This article refines a conceptual best-practice manuscript on UQU10903 Integrity and Anti-Corruption at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) by responding to the need for stronger applicability, clearer transferability and a more explicit empirical validation pathway. The objective is to propose a Purposeful Blended-Immersive Integrity Learning (PBIL) model that integrates flipped digital preparation, scenario-based role-play, gamified branching decisions, practitioner engagement, institutional exposure, structured reflection and evidence-informed course improvement. Methodologically, the article adopts a design-informed practice analysis by synthesising recent peer-reviewed literature on immersive, blended, flipped and gamified learning with policy and practice sources from MACC, UNODC, OECD and Malaysian institutional examples. The article identifies a research gap: while integrity education is increasingly institutionalised, limited work explains how immersive and blended strategies can be coherently aligned with anti-corruption learning outcomes and empirically tested in Malaysian higher education. To address this limitation, the revised framework includes a pilot evaluation roadmap using mixed methods, pre-post measures, scenario-based ethical reasoning tasks, reflective journals, focus groups and possible comparison with lecture-based delivery. The article concludes that UQU10903 can serve as a transferable pedagogical model for institutions seeking to strengthen integrity education through low-cost, reflective, evidence-informed and empirically testable immersive learning.