Analysis of the Reasons for the Low Efficiency of Academic Norms Education in Colleges and Universities

Abstract

The academic anomie is widespread and serious in China. One of the important factors is the long-term serious low efficiency and vicious circle of academic norms education in Colleges and universities. This paper analyzes the main reasons for the low efficiency of academic norms education in colleges and universities: many colleges and universities do not offer subject curriculum and activity curriculum of academic norms education, and there are no corresponding teaching materials of academic norms and specialist lecturers and tutors. In recent years, the academic anomie of graduate students and undergraduates has been common. Students in some key universities have been exposed to such incidents: In August 2014, Peking University Ph.D. student Yanru Yu plagiarized her paper severely [1]. In January 2017, Fudan University graduate Sijun Qiu was revoked his doctorate for plagiarism of the thesis [2]. It is not difficult to see that the issue of academic anomie has become a realistic problem affecting the quality of talent training in colleges and universities today. Some scholars have put forward beneficial insights into academic norms education. For example, Maowei Qian believes that academic norms have not become operational rules. Naturally, few people consciously abide by academic research norms, and he suggested that the practice of academic norms education should be strengthened [3]. Honglian He and others believe that with the repeated exposure of academic anomie in colleges and universities, the authenticity of academic achievements in colleges and universities has been questioned, and they suggest that a system of academic honesty and credit should be constructed in which “self-discipline” and “heteronomy” interact [4]. We believe that one of the important factors of indeed widespread and serious academic anomie in our country is the long-term serious low efficiency of academic norms education in Colleges and universities, which forms a vicious circle: universities have trained a number of students who have not received strict academic norms education, in turn, some of the students have become teachers and tutors, doctoral supervisors, deans, and principals to train such succeeding students. How could such teachers themselves who have not undergone rigorous academic norms training educate their students and make good effects on their students? In the following, we will explore the main reasons for the low efficiency of academic norms education in Colleges and universities.