Academic Integrity Violations Research Articles

ПОЛОЖЕННЯ ПРО АКАДЕМІЧНУ ДОБРОЧЕСНІСТЬ: ПРОБЛЕМИ ІМПЛЕМЕНТАЦІЇ

The article discusses the problems of implementing the policy of academic integrity in higher education institutions; it was found that the implementation of fundamental principles, the formation of an educational environment with zero tolerance for violations of ethical standards requires the development of a policy and the introduction of the practice of academic integrity. The key in this process is the agreement of the declaration of values and their approval in educational practice. The results of the study on the awareness of the essence and meaning of academic integrity and the desire to articulate a position on academic integrity by students of the second (master’s) level of education of the Vinnytsia National Technical University were also analyzed and summarized. The object of the study was the participants' texts on the meaning of academic integrity in a higher education institution. Qualitative-quantitative analysis was applied to the participants’ texts according to the following criteria: 1) identification of positions on the issue of academic integrity; 2) «I»-position (self-discovery, self-analysis, self-exposure); 3) accentuation of texts; 4) appeal to the moral principles of academic integrity. The authors came to the following general conclusions: at the same time as learning the essence, content and meaning of academic integrity at the theoretical level, almost all research participants emphasized the position of observing academic ethical standards; along with this, it was noticeable that the master's students kept silent about the situation of violation and responsibility, which indicates the avoidance of the discussion regarding the procedures for handling cases of violations and responsibility for non-compliance with ethical principles. The declarative nature of the overwhelming number of the studied texts, hiding the «I» position in them, avoiding the articulation of values give grounds for the conclusion that a significant part of master’s students is not aware of the essence and meaning of academic integrity. Generalizations of research results can be used in changing approaches, processes and procedures to improve the system for ensuring academic integrity at the Vinnytsia National Technical University and other institutions of higher education. Key words: institution of higher education, academic integrity, policy, regulation, violation of academic integrity, text.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT IN ENHANCING EDUCATION QUALITY

For the first time at the normative level, the concept of "academic integrity" was enshrined in the Law of Ukraine "On Education," which was adopted in 2017. Article 42 of the Law defines academic integrity as a set of ethical principles and rules that must be followed by participants in the educational process to ensure trust in the results of training and/or scientific achievements. The education quality assurance system has three structural components: the quality assurance system in educational institutions, the system of external assurance of the quality of education, and the system of quality assurance in the activities of management bodies and institutions that provide external assurance of the quality of education. The participants in the educational process who are subject to the principles of academic integrity are pedagogical, scientificpedagogical, and scientific workers, as well as students of education.
 The objective of this study is to assess the level of knowledge of students at the second (Master's) level of higher education in the "Medicine" program at Poltava State Medical University regarding violations of academic integrity depending on the course of study.
 Materials and methods: The study involved 117 students at the second (Master's) level of higher education in the OPP "Medicine" program at Poltava State Medical University. Among them, 73 people studied in the third year and 44 in the second year of medical faculties at the university. The study tested the students' ability to recognize various violations of academic integrity, such as plagiarism, falsification, fabrication, writing off, and deception using specific examples. Respondents were offered an anonymous questionnaire containing 10 situations regarding academic integrity issues where they had to identify violations if present. The questionnaire also included questions about respondents' demographics, such as age, gender, and year of education.
 Conclusion: The majority of the surveyed secondand third-year students in the "Medicine" program at Poltava State Medical University (72.72% and 79.45%, respectively) demonstrated a sufficient or rather sufficient level of knowledge regarding violations of academic integrity.

Exploring Factors that Contribute to Nursing Students' Willingness to Report Peer Academic Integrity Violations.

Exploring Factors that Contribute to Nursing Students' Willingness to Report Peer Academic Integrity Violations.

A trilateral approach to design a model course on information literacy and research ethics for tertiary‐level curricula: A pathway to university ranking success

AbstractThe present study aims to design a model course on Information Literacy (IL) and Research Ethics (RE) for university curricula and examine the role of this course in university ranking. The study followed a mixed approach to collect required data for designing the course. First, research students' responses regarding IL and RE were collected using a structured questionnaire. Then, responses regarding students' ethical practices were collected from the heads of departments of a university. The Director of the Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of the university was also consulted for his opinions regarding the design of a model course on IL and RE for university curriculum. A total of 142 research students responded to the survey. Results showed that most of the students are unfamiliar with different ethical terms except plagiarism (71.8%). Similarly, departments' heads think that their students are mostly unfamiliar with the terms like intellectual property, paraphrasing and fair use; and inefficient in evaluating information source, ethically using that information and disseminating it through proper channels. Only 23% of students maintained ethics while conducting research works, which sometimes led them into violation of academic integrity. Considering these issues and consulting with IQAC, a course has been designed which might be incorporated in the university curriculum. This is the first initiative in Bangladesh where a model course has been designed and it has been shown how this course can play a vital role in ensuring quality education and influencing university ranking.

Bringing to Academic Responsibility for Violation of Academic Integrity: Theoretical and Applied Problems of Regulation

Problem setting. The article highlights problematic issues related to academic responsibility for violations of academic integrity of participants in the educational process. Attention is drawn to the fact that a significant shortcoming of the Laws of Ukraine «On Education» and «On Higher Education» is the absence of such definitions as «academic responsibility», «types of academic responsibility», «academic misconduct», which significantly complicates the bringing to academic responsibility of pedagogical , scientific-pedagogical and scientific workers of educational institutions and students of education in practice. Analysis of recent researches and publications. A. Artyukhova, V. Zinchenko, Y. Kalinovsky, M. Ozhevan, O. Tytska, O. Chumak and others scientists have addressed the issue of academic integrity in their works. The scientific conclusions and approaches to the vision of these scholars are an important basis for our study. Target of the research is to study and comprehend the problematic issues of bringing to academic liability for violation of academic integrity of participants in the educational process. Article’s main body. Based on the analysis of current legislation, the author formulates a definition of the term “academic liability” and establishes its place in the general system of legal liability. The author’s definition of the term «academic responsibility» is proposed: this is a type of legal responsibility that arises for the violation of the academic integrity of pedagogical, scientific-pedagogical and scientific employees of educational institutions, students of education in scientific institutions and educational institutions and entails negative consequences of state influence in case of committing them of an academic offense. A critical assessment of the list of violations of academic integrity is given. It is noted that in the current educational legislation there is no differentiation of violations related to the training of highly qualified personnel (master’s students, doctoral students, etc.). Attention is drawn to the fact that the Law of Ukraine «On Education» establishes a list of violations of academic integrity, in which offenses that are completely different in terms of the degree of social damage, for example, self-plagiarism and bribery, are placed in the same row/ The author established that the Law of Ukraine «On Higher Education» contains a list of sanctions for violation of academic integrity not for all participants of the educational process, but only for pedagogical, scientific-pedagogical and scientific employees of educational institutions and students of education. Amendments to the current legislation regarding the clear definition of objective criteria for the selection of the type of academic responsibility for a specific violation of academic integrity are proposed. Conclusions and prospects for the development. It was concluded that academic responsibility is a multi-meaning concept, in particular, a type of social, corporate, moral-ethical, legal responsibility, is a type of state coercion. It is proposed to harmonize the provisions of the educational legislation with the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine, the Civil Code of Ukraine, the Criminal Code of Ukraine and other laws, which will regulate the types and measures of punishment for violating academic integrity. It is proved that academic responsibility can be legal (civil, labor, administrative, criminal), social, moral and ethical, corporate responsibility. Thus, academic responsibility intersects with legal responsibility. The need to establish the definition of the concept of «academic responsibility» at the legislative level and to regulate in detail all procedural aspects of bringing the participants of the educational process to academic responsibility is argued.

РЕЗУЛЬТАТИ ЦІЛЬОВОГО ОПИТУВАННЯ «ПЛАГІАТ ЯК ПОРУШЕННЯ АКАДЕМІЧНОЇ ДОБРОЧЕСНОСТІ»

<p><strong><em>The purpose of the study</em></strong><em> is to adjust the content of the «Plagiarism and academic integrity» academic subject on basis of the answers to the outlined survey.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research methodology.</em></strong><em> To find out the opinion of the respondents regarding the effectiveness of the «Plagiarism and academic integrity» academic subject, despite working in the conditions of a full-scale war in Ukraine, and to adjust the content of this academic subject under the study results, a survey (conducted on May 09–26, 2022) by the method of purposive sampling with Google Forms was used. It covered 67 respondents. This is 69.1% of the general population, that are the students with whom the author worked within this academic subject. The questionnaire contained 6 questions: 3 open-ended questions and 3 close-ended questions. To process the received information, the study used methods of generalization and analysis of information: systematization, grouping, qualitative (text analysis, classification) and quantitative (digital data) methods of data interpretation. The results are presented as a detailed verbal description.</em></p><p><strong><em>Results.</em></strong><em> It was found that for 100% of the respondents, the </em><em>academic subject opened up new knowledge and for 97% helped to master new skills important for maintaining academic integrity. The interviewees testify that the educational course is mostly balanced and creative, but it is still worth adding some items about plagiarism in artistic fields; increase the number of training exercises to develop the skills to compose list of references, to use citations, to create paraphrases and compilations, etc.; focus more on enhancement of basic competencies. Almost 75% of the respondents noted that studying the course prompted them to investigate more deeply the problems of academic integrity in general and plagiarism in particular. Respondents are most interested in creative industries, such as music, cinema, and literature, which means that it will be necessary to offer such formats for acquiring knowledge and skills that combine approaches and principles of academic integrity with course issues, for example, the creation of podcasts devoted to the prevention of plagiarism in various fields.</em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty.</em></strong><em> A number of issues are outlined that should be included in the course content, such as plagiarism and photography, plagiarism and stand-up, plagiarism and social media. Competences are highlighted, which, although they are fundamental in obtaining higher education (critical thinking, generating ideas, analyzing information) can be deepened in mastering of this academic subject.</em></p><p><strong><em>Practical importance.</em></strong><em> The obtained results will be used to adjust the content of the «Plagiarism and academic integrity» academic subject.</em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> academic integrity, plagiarism, violation of academic integrity, academic course.</em></p>

Academic Integrity and Student Mental Well-Being: A Rapid Review

Despite concerns arising from academic integrity practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders about the relationship between academic integrity (or violations of academic integrity) and student mental well-being (or distress), there is a lack of literature synthesizing available evidence. Particularly, it is unclear about when student mental well-being may be of concern during procedures that concern breaches of academic integrity. Our rapid review identified and analysed scholarly sources (n = 46) to understand the relationship between academic integrity and mental well-being among postsecondary students. Five themes emerged: a) negativity bias; b) inconsistency of definitions; c) paradigmatic tensions; d) focus on external stressors; and e) focus on mental health prior to a critical incident. We propose several calls to action and implications for practice. There is a need to better understand the impact of an alleged or actual academic integrity violation on students’ mental well-being. Practitioners should integrate supports for students’ mental well-being in processes and procedures that uphold academic integrity.

Exploring Factors That Contribute to Nursing Students' Willingness to Report Peer Academic Integrity Violations.

The aim of the study was to examine and describe student perceptions of severity of violations, faculty support, and support for program improvement strategies related to willingness to report peer violations. Peer reporting is important when students witness dishonest behaviors. To foster academic integrity, exploration of the willingness to report is needed. Using McCabe's Academic Integrity Survey-Modified for Nursing Students, 442 baccalaureate students were surveyed. The more students felt faculty supported related policies, the more willing students were to report ( r s = .298, α = .05). The more students understood what was considered a violation, the more willing they were to report ( r s = .485, α = .05). The more students believed program-wide strategies could prevent violations, the more willing they were to report ( r s = .231, α = .05). Education that helps define academic integrity can contribute to nursing students' willingness to report peer violations. Faculty support of policies and program-wide strategies contribute.

ACQUISITION OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY COMPETENCIES BY POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THEIR SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY

Academic integrity plays an important role in everyone's research, especially for graduate students who are in the early stages of their careers. The purpose of the article is to establish the basic competencies in the field of academic integrity that postgraduate students should possess. The main methods that were used in the research are analysis and synthesis, methods of comparative analysis, generalization, which made it possible to achieve the set goal. The methodological basis of the study was a survey of postgraduate students of Ukrainian universities. Based on the results of the literature review, the authors systematized the main forms of violations of academic integrity that graduate students may encounter during their studies. Based on the results of a survey of postgraduate students, the main issues of compliance with academic integrity were investigated: compliance with the code of academic integrity of the university; availability of persons responsible for familiarizing postgraduate students with issues of academic integrity; the main forms of violations of academic integrity that postgraduate students may encounter during their studies; the main decisions made as a result of the detection of cases of violation of academic integrity; core competencies that graduate students would like to possess to prevent academic integrity violations. The main measures to inform postgraduate students about the observance of academic integrity have been proposed.

COVID-19 Academic Integrity Violations and Trends: A Rapid Review

The rapid shift from classroom course delivery to online education modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on academia. Student loss of face-to-face interaction, the lost social benefits of the educational milieu, and restricted instructor ability to control both the learning environment and assessment process have been significant. The purpose of this paper is to discover if due to the unplanned shift to online course delivery, educators and researchers experienced impacts to academic integrity during the peak of the online shift. A systemic review utilizing the PRISMA methodology of peer reviewed literature published during the period of March 2020 till September 2021 demonstrated that violation types continued to fall within the existing academic integrity constructs of inappropriate information sharing, cheating on exams and assignments, incidents of plagiarism, and falsifying or fabricating information. The results showed that pre-COVID concerns with academic integrity were amplified with previous concerns moving to the forefront. In addition, the rapid shift opened doors for greater opportunity for violations and increased instructor concern especially within the hard sciences and courses with lab-based components. Reinforcing the importance of providing formal academic integrity student and faculty training can be a beneficial intervention to ensure students understand the ethical implications of student behavior and performance during the assessment process. Given the emerging trend pre-COVID that skyrocketed during the pandemic, ensuring academic integrity should remain a key priority for learning institutions.

Machine Translation An Enduring Chasm between Language Students and Teachers

The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated focus on educational technologies (Elaish, et al., 2021). One area of sustained controversy in this domain centers around machine translation (MT), where language teachers and students have historically disagreed (Lee, 2020). While research has demonstrated the benefits of MT (e.g. Benda, 2013; Chon et al. 2021; Correa, 2014; Dziemianko, 2017; Enkin & Mejías-Bikandi, 2016; Garcia & Pena, 2011; Lee, 2020; Lee & Briggs, 2021) and studies have consistently reported frequent student usage of MT (e.g. Alhaisoni & Alhaysony, 2017) Clifford, Merschel, & Munné, 2013; Jin & Diefell, 2013; Tsai, 2019; Yang & Wang, 2019), teacher views have traditionally been negative (e.g. Case; 2015; Clifford, Merschel, & Munné, 2013; Niño, 2009; Stapleton & Leung Ka Kin, 2019). Given that recent research on MT has targeted ESOL (e.g. Lee, 2020; Murphy Odo, 2019; Tsai, 2019), that MT itself has evolved considerably since 2016 (Yang & Wang, 2019), and that teacher beliefs can be influenced by professional development and context (Borg, 2015), this study examined (1) contemporary attitudes toward and practices around MT among students (n=75) and teachers (n=25) of diverse languages, and (2) changes in instructor views after high impact pedagogical events: (a) a professional development seminar specifically on MT and (b) the “crisis‐prompted [shift to] remote language teaching” (Gacs et al, 2020) as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Results from four surveys indicate a wide, enduring chasm between students, who increasingly use and feel positively towards MT but are varied in their understanding of implications of its use for academic integrity, and teachers, most of whom make no instructional use of MT, feel negatively about it, have clearer reviews on its relationship to academic integrity, and maintain their views after specific professional development and broad and far-reaching contextual events related to technology. Implications for practice, especially in the context of a surge in academic integrity violations related to MT during the COVID-19 pandemic (Çelik & Lancaster, 2021), will be discussed.

РЕЗУЛЬТАТИ ОПИТУВАННЯ «СПРИЙНЯТТЯ Й РОЗУМІННЯ ПРОБЛЕМИ ПЛАГІАТУ» В КОНТЕКСТІ РОЗРОБЛЕННЯ КУРСУ «ПЛАГІАТ І АКАДЕМІЧНА ДОБРОЧЕСНІСТЬ»

<p><strong><em>The purpose </em></strong><em>of the study </em><em>is to adjust the thematic plan of the «Plagiarism and academic integrity» academic subject on basis of the answers to the outlined survey.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research methodology.</em></strong><em> In order to identify the attitude of respondents to the problem of 6lagiarism as a violation of academic integrity and to form the content of the «Plagiarism and academic integrity» academic subject under the study results, a survey (conducted in April – early June 2021) by the method of selective questionnaire with Google Forms was used. The questionnaire contained 15 questions (9 open-ended questions, 4 close-ended questions and 2 multiple-choice questions) and covered 184 respondents. Methods of generalization and analysis of information were used to process the received information: systematization, grouping, qualitative (text analysis, classification) and quantitative (digital data) methods of data interpretation. The results are presented as a detailed verbal description.</em></p><p><strong><em>Results.</em></strong><em> The survey clarified respondents’ understanding of the essence of the «academic integrity» and «plagiarism» concepts; their attitude to the problem of plagiarism; their opinion about effective and ineffective educational tasks and about the reasons for resorting to plagiarism; identified the types of work that cause them the most difficulties and are a «risk zone» for accusations of plagiarism; outlined the range of issues related to the problem of plagiarism, which are the most interesting for the interviewees. It was established that among all violations of academic integrity that the respondents encountered, plagiarism has the «top spot» – 83.2%; followed by cheating-off – 80.4% and biased marking – 71.2%. In general, the survey data show that students are ready to study an academic subject dedicated to the problems of academic integrity in general and plagiarism in particular, but each topic should be justified from the point of view «why do they need to know this and what it will give them for personal and professional development» and presented in an interesting way, and each task should be aimed at developing specific, clearly defined skills.</em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty.</em></strong><em> Based on the received data, the following topics of the </em><em>academic subject were formed: 1) academic integrity; 2) types of liability for violation of academic integrity; 3) plagiarism as a social communication phenomenon; 4) reasons for resorting to plagiarism; 5) types and methods of plagiarism; 6) «plagiarism of ideas»; 7) «self-plagiarism»; 8) «a text oversaturated with quotations»; 9) work with sources and plagiarism; 10) plagiarism technologies; 11) peculiarities of plagiarism reception; 12) plagiarism in feature films; 13) plagiarism and mass media; 14) plagiarism in creative industries; 15) the right to creativity and plagiarism; 16) judicial practice and plagiarism; 17) prevention of plagiarism and fight against it.</em></p><p><strong><em>Practical importance.</em></strong><em> The obtained results will be used in the process of teaching the «Plagiarism and academic integrity» course.</em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> academic integrity, plagiarism, violation of academic integrity, academic course.</em></p>

FEATURES OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY OF SCIENTIFIC‒RESEARCH WORK OF STUDENTS OF NATURAL SPECIALTIES

The article is devoted to the study of the issue of academic integrity in the performance of research work by students of natural sciences. An analysis of the state of formation and compliance with the norms and principles of academic integrity in the research work of students of higher education, which is a necessary element of the educational process, and is aimed at acquiring practical skills for the future profession. Aspects of the motivation of violations and the possibility of observing the principles of academic integrity of students of natural sciences when performing research work in extreme learning conditions are revealed. It was found that among the types of scientific research work of students, the most violations of academic integrity are observed in the performance of written coursework. It is noted that the reasons for the unscrupulous behavior of students are the belief that "plagiarism is not a problem and the lack of formed ideas that the violation of academic integrity is a harm caused to oneself and the future of the state. It has been investigated that the unscrupulous behavior of participants in the scientific and educational process, due to an irresponsible attitude to learning, contributes to the violation of academic integrity. The need to implement academic integrity in school education is substantiated, explaining the consequences of violations. It has been studied in the article that under the conditions of a consistent and step-by-step learning process with compliance with the norms of the scientific and educational process, it is impossible to violate academic integrity by students of natural sciences.

Dialogic Problematization of Academic Integrity Education.

Many university educators have argued for a need for academic integrity education as an alternative to a focus on students' and scholars' compliance with academic rules and conventions (Brimble, 2016; Christensen Hughes & Bertram-Gallant, 2016; Hutton, 2006). I argue that the universal ethical-moral discourse of academic integrity disciplines subjects to comply with frequently alienating academic practices. This ethical discourse focuses on individual responsibility, in turn rendering invisible the authority of sometimes dysfunctional and oppressive instructional and summative assessment practices. Taking a Bakhtinian dialogic authorial perspective, the paper calls on students, scholars, instructors, and academic advisors to engage in critical ontological dialogue on diverse responses and motivations in regard to academic demands and deeds. Dialogue on situated instead of universal ethics in academic settings contextualizes and problematizes not just individual actions but also the ethics of the summative assessment regime, the instruction, the curriculum, authority dynamics, and the educational system as a whole. This discussion on academic integrity violations calls on educators to consider the ethical value of separating summative assessment from instruction.

ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR IN HEIS. AN EXPLORATORY STUDY FROM STUDENTS PERSPECTIVE

Issues specific to ethics and academic integrity cover a wide range of fields and can take the form of professional ethics, the ethics of scientific research, the ethics of relationships between students and between students and teachers, and the ethics of classroom activities. Violation of academic integrity is also known as “academic misconduct” or “academic dishonesty”. There are different ways of committing acts of violation of academic integrity, but it is important to keep in mind that committing any of them has consequences that will be reflected in both academic and professional life. Therefore, it is important to be known, recognized, and avoided. The main aim of our research is to explore the student’s perception about the ethical norms and academic integrity during the didactical and research activity at their university. Our findings show that students have knowledge about the academic integrity norms and can respect them, but, sometimes, if it is easy to obtain the same result, they decide to use the unethical practices (copy-paste, wrong citation, plagiarism). Results, implications, and future directions of research are presented.

Feasibility of Online Classes for Microbiology Courses: Lessons learned amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Universities and colleges worldwide have been closed following the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and online learning has become an educational practice at once. Previous research showed many problems, including time management difficulties, technological devices, communication, engagement and assessment of students for both educators and students in online education. This research was formulated to understand whether online microbiology courses from different Saudi Universities are appropriate. It was a nationwide cross-sectional study among educators from multiple Saudi Arabian Universities during the whole month of June 2020. We distributed the survey link electronically through messages on the phone. A total of 134 Saudis participated in the study, and the majority of the respondents, i.e., 106 (79.10%) are between 36 to 55 years old, 17 (12.69%) are 56 years and above. A total of 65 (48.51%) respondents responded that shifting from in-classroom to online setup has impacted the teaching-learning process negatively, while 43 (32.09%) responded with a positive impact. The majority of the respondents (82%) disagreed that practical learning outcomes such as laboratory-based microbiology courses can be achieved online at the same level as regular-campus classes.Furthermore, more than half of the participants think that students' dishonesty or violation of academic integrity threatens institutions from offering online courses. Technology tools have brought a positive impact on the effectiveness of online microbiology education. This study illustrated that the shift to online microbiology classes has a positive impact on attention to academic integrity. However, in-person labs are still considered the optimal lab design. While pandemics have historically generated difficulties, recognizing these difficulties is the first step in turning them into possibilities.

Gender in the Field of Education: The Impact of Gender Bias on the General Perception of Academic Integrity

This study aims to determine the impact of gender bias on the general perception of academic integrity in high school students. This study employed the experimental vignette methodology (EVM) to construct a two-versioned online survey that eliminates the issue of anonymity and to capture participants’ implicit mental processes and judgments for a sensitive topic regarding violation of academic integrity. This conjoint analysis study includes two fictional scenarios with the exact context except for the gender of the protagonist of the story, which is expressed through the name and pronouns used. The results suggest that the respondents have a slight tendency towards a lesser female involvement in violations of academic integrity and rationalization of their behaviors.

Academic integrity of faculty members in Arab universities in light of competitiveness and digital transformation

As a result of the information revolution, with which big data became available in various sciences, which was accompanied by a digital transformation, followed by competition, and the availability of large information means and sources. As a result of all this, the processes of obtaining information became easy and easy, which led to a defect in the academic integrity of some faculty members in Arab universities. The university professor is the focal point in facing these challenges imposed - and still is - the mechanisms of digital transformation and competitiveness when he is well chosen, prepared, and qualified academically and professionally, and then enjoys academic integrity, which is the cornerstone of the ethics of university education. By virtue of the researcher’s presence in the scientific committees for promotions (during two sessions for a period of six years) and through the arbitration of Arab scientific productions and discussions of scientific theses, it was possible to notice some shortcomings that marred this integrity among some researchers. Based on the foregoing, the importance of this study, which aims to visualize some of the mechanisms that support academic integrity, and then develop a charter of honor for academic integrity in Arab universities in order to address this shortcoming. Pictures from reality (violation of academic integrity) and requirements to support academic integrity.

Examining the Practices and Challenges of Distance Education of PhD Candidates in the Context of COVID-19

The distance education system is actively developing in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sharp transition of PhD candidates to distance education caused difficulties in organising the educational process. The aim of this study was to analyse the methods of distance education for postgraduate students in the context of a COVID-19 pandemic. A survey of graduate students was conducted through specially- designed and semi-standardised interviews of focus groups of producers and consumers of educational services. The study showed that the process of adaptation of postgraduate students majoring in Physical Culture and Sports and Biology was much more difficult than in the major Educational, Pedagogical Sciences and Philology. The reasons for the problems of distance education of PhD candidates included the complexity of creating educational and methodological materials for distance learning; lack of a centralised system of certification and accreditation of electronic courses; insufficient motivation of teachers; shortage of teachers who could competently develop distance learning courses in higher education. The study identified opportunities to implement promising areas of online learning in the system of training of academic and teaching staff: retraining of a large proportion of the teaching staff, implementation of a system approach to the development of the online environment of educational institutions, development of skills and abilities to use educational content. Prospects for further research include the study of problems of violation of academic integrity by postgraduate students in the course of distance learning.

Academic integrity, STEM education, and COVID-19: a call to action

With the global pandemic educators have had to move their courses to virtual spaces, and this quick change has brought up concerns, especially in STEM education where there are ongoing discussions of adapting laboratories and shifting lecture and assessment practices to online learning. One issue that has become more pressing, beyond the financial and technological implications, is that of academic integrity violations. This position paper looks at the intersection academic integrity and equity and social justice in STEM higher education, where there is a lack of research and publications exploring the inequities that exist. The researchers have expertise in these areas and hold positions in as faculty, student, and advisor. The paper’s main focus represents a review of the current literature and calls educators to action to change the narratives in STEM and higher education, taking into account the impact of COVID-19 and the shift in the education conversations that have happened due to the pandemic.