Academic integrity

Principles of academic integrity

Academic integrity is a set of ethical principles and rules defined by law, which have to be followed by the participants of the educational process during learning, teaching and carrying out scientific (creative) activities in order to ensure trust in the results of studies and/or scientific (creative) achievements. Academic integrity is based on the agreement of all participants of the academic process to follow the rules and fulfill the duties assigned to them.

The main principles and fundamental values of academic integrity and the ethics of academic relationships include:

  • honesty, decency and truthfulness (devotion to moral principles and standards that create a barrier to dishonesty, systematic avoidance of academic dishonesty during the implementation of one’s own activity, striving for the truth, free and open dissemination of best practices in the implementation of one’s activity);
  • trust (all participants in the educational process have confidence in the honesty and virtue of each other, can rely on each other, are free from fear that the results of activity may be borrowed without authorisation. An atmosphere of trust encourages and supports the free exchange of ideas, which enables scientific research to be fully realised);
  • justice and legality (unbiased, equal treatment of all participants in the educational process, free from discrimination and dishonesty, and compliance by each participant in the educational process with laws and encouraging others to do so);
  • respect (respect for the diversity of opinions and ideas, the dignity of others, their physical and mental health);
  • responsibility (the ability to take responsibility for the results of one’s activities, to fulfill certain obligations, to resist manifestations of academic dishonesty, to provide examples of decent behaviour);
  • self-improvement and conscientiousness (participants of the educational process recognise the importance and make maximum efforts to constantly improve the educational system, in particular through their own professional development. Participants of the educational process properly use the powers delegated to them without exceeding or dishonestly performing);
  • courage (consistent advocacy of decent behaviour and ideas of spreading the principles of academic integrity in adverse conditions of outside pressure).

Violations of academic integrity are considered to be:

  • academic plagiarism – publicising (partially or completely) scientific (creative) results obtained by other persons as the results of one’s own research (creativity) and/or reproduction of published texts (publicised works of art) of other authors without indicating authorship;
  • self-plagiarism – publication (partially or completely) of one’s own previously published scientific results as new scientific results;
  • fabrication – invention of data or facts used in the educational process or scientific research;
  • falsification – deliberate change or modification of already available data related to the educational process or scientific research (including forgery of signatures in official documents);
  • cheating – performance of written works involving external sources of information other than those permitted for use, in particular, during the evaluation of learning outcomes;
  • deception – provision of knowingly false information about one’s own educational (scientific, creative) activity or the organisation of the educational process;
  • bribery – provision (receipt) by a participant of the educational process or an offer to provide (receipt) funds, property, services or any other benefits of a material or non-material nature in order to obtain an undue advantage in the educational process;
  • biased assessment – deliberate overestimation or underestimation of the learning outcomes of higher education applicants;
  • false co-authorship – entering into the list of authors of a scientific or educational-methodical work persons who did not participate in the creation of the product.

Promotion of academic integrity is part of the internal system of ensuring the quality of education and the educational process of KNU. KNU has created an atmosphere of respect for the principles of academic integrity, their mandatory observance, and the inadmissibility of their violation by members of the university academic community, which is regulated by the Regulations on the Organisation of the Educational Process at KNU and the Code of Ethics of the university community. KNU is a participant in the Academic Integrity and Quality Initiative (Academic IQ) project of the American Councils for International Education, the purpose of which is to develop an educational environment for the responsible implementation of norms of academic integrity. Also, the “Anti-corruption program” was developed and approved at KNU. In order to monitor the observance of academic integrity by the participants of the educational process, by decision of the Academic Council at KNU, a Standing Commission on Ethics was established, the regulation of whose activities is determined by the Regulations on the Standing Committee on Ethics of the Academic Council of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

In order to prevent academic plagiarism within the framework of implementation of the provisions of Art. 69 of the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education” KNU created a system of preventive measures to encourage participants of the educational process at KNU to independently complete written works, which is regulated by the Regulation on the system of detection and prevention of academic plagiarism at KNU , which provides for appropriate technological solutions. In order to promote academic integrity and avoid academic plagiarism, KNU signed a cooperation agreement with “Antiplagiat” LLC. The contract provides for verification of uniqueness using the Unicheck online service. In accordance with Section 9.8.3 of the Regulations on the Organisation of the Educational Process at KNU , students may be held academically liable, for example: retaking the assessment (test, exam, credit, etc.); retaking the relevant educational component of the EP; deduction from KNU; deprivation of an academic scholarship; deprivation of KNU tuition fees; other additional and/or detailed types of academic responsibility of education seekers for specific violations of academic integrity.