Ethical regulation of students’ using information: The comparative case study of Russian and US universities

Abstract

The findings of the comparative study of documents representing the process of supporting the academic ethical values in students' information activities are presented. The empirical data were obtained as a result of analysis of 24 ethical codes of Russian universities and documentation of the Harvard University Honor Council. The documents indicating the practice of ethical regulation in the field of students' work with information loaded to the official websites of Russian universities are studied. The procedures of the Harvard Honor Council are discussed, the statistics of violations of academic integrity examined by the Honor Council is analyzed. The author concludes that Russian universities are at the initial stage of implementing full-fledged system of ethical regulation of the university community activities, and their initiatives aimed at approval of their ethical codes are primarily of the declarative nature. Based on the study of documented practice of the Harvard Honor Council, it is demonstrated how a well-developed ethical regulation mechanism provides for efficient control over the observance of the principles of academic integrity that are postulated in Harvard's Code of Honor. The conclusion about the high degree of influence of the “Codes of Honor” on the US university community is made.