Making The Case For The Creation Of An Academic Honesty And Integrity Culture In Higher Education: Reflections And Suggestions For Reducing The Rise In Student Cheating

Abstract

Using an example from the work of one university in the United States, this case is principally an essay of reflections, thoughts, questions, and suggestions for the creation of an academic honesty and integrity culture in higher education institutions. The authors provide their thoughts and insights from their combined 30 years of teaching and administration experiences regarding this important and challenging academic area. The authors were recently involved in the revision of their business schools academic honesty policy as well as in their schools yearly conference for all faculty members full-time and adjunct in which the topic of academic honesty was the primary academic component. This article is not intended to be a research type article, though some current research on academic honesty will be presented, neither is it intended to be a detailed explication of the authors schools academic honesty policy, nor a how to article when it comes to a schools developing and implementing academic honesty policies and procedures. Rather, as the word Reflections in the articles title indicates, this paper is based on the knowledge gained by the authors in their schools revision of its policy, their participation in the conference and the presentations therein, as well as the authors own experiences from teaching management, business law, and business ethics courses for many years. The authors hope that the issues they raise, the insights they obtained, and the recommendations and suggestions they make will be helpful to their colleagues in academia in establishing a culture of academic honesty and integrity at their schools.