The first semester of China's first "anti-corruption" postgraduate program has begun, with leading anti-graft officials teaching students in the classroom.

The program kicked off earlier this week at Beijing-based Renmin University of China.

He Jiahong, deputy director of the university's criminal law research center and one of the program's tutors, said the course teaches advanced techniques for duty-related criminal investigations, such as lie-detection techniques.

Leading prosecutors of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), including Chen Lianfu, director of the SPP's General Bureau of Anti-Embezzlement and Bribery, and seven other anti-graft prosecutors, have become part-time professors who will not only teach investigative methods but also give guidance for handling cases.

The course has 30 students and "plays a positive role in social anti-corruption," said Prof. Lin Zhe at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

He Jiahong said one focus of the program is how to obtain testimony from witnesses, including through the observation of facial expressions and the use of lie-detector tests.

"Some of them will become experts in administering the polygraph test," He said.

All the students selected for the program met strict criteria and were tested for aptitude. Only one in four of the program's applicants were admitted.

The students have expressed their hopes to work at the forefront of graft fighting after graduation.