Regulatory Compliance and Ethics Student Exchange Program

There is growing international awareness of how important ethical considerations are for the viability of regional and international trade, research collaboration, and business partnerships. It is critical for professionals to understand the psychological and cultural processes involved in ethical decision making to avoid costly litigation, sanctions, and damage to business relationships. USM has established MeRTEC, the Maine Regulatory Training and Ethics Center, to facilitate regional entrepreneurship and international trade through research and an educational curriculum aimed at facilitating understanding of regulatory compliance and policy, and the cross-cultural ethics underlying them. To date we have designed and launched an undergraduate Regulatory Ethics minor and certificate, with courses in Regulation 101 and Human Factors in Regulatory Compliance and Policy, as well as Study Abroad: Experiential Cross-Cultural Ethics in Iceland, a program in which USM and Reykjavik University students joined for a day-long workshop to work collaboratively in case analyses involving cultural differences in ethical perspectives. We are currently collaborating with faculty and administrators at Reykjavik University to extend the reach of the new curriculum. Plans for the future include students from the RU Business School taking USM Regulatory Ethics coursework and a follow up Study Abroad course.

Vision

Through our MeRTEC project, coursework, internships, and academic partnerships with Reykjavik University and other institutions, we hope to expand opportunities for collaborative learning experiences, including student and faculty exchange opportunities.

Collaborators

  • Reykjavik University (School of Business, Bio-Innovation, Dept. of Psychology)

  • Iceland Ocean Cluster House

  • New England Ocean Cluster House

Professors

Robert Bruce Thompson

Robert Bruce Thompson

Department of Psychology