Academic integrity of undergraduates: The CETYS University case

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to report the academic integrity (AI) challenges and opportunities facing CETYS University, the leading private higher education institution from Baja California, Mexico; as well as the outcome of an international survey on the subject that included CETYS’ participation. The AI study, named Academic Motivation and Integrity Survey-Spanish (AMIS-S), led by Jason M. Stephens [1], included 95 questions to “… assess a wide range of students’ perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors related to academic motivation and integrity institutions grouped into nine ‘academic behaviors’” during the past year. The questionnaire was sent to all 2,530 students except those who were in their first undergraduate year; 376 responded. AI is a critical learning topic, especially in higher education institutions [2] where students have to demonstrate respect for intellectual property in their writings and in other means of knowledge construction [3, 4]. The survey results showed, for example, that student disapproval for academic dishonesty was low (nearly one third) while 85% were involved in at least one dishonest action of the nine components that ranged from low impact to serious actions. These overall outcomes clearly indicate that CETYS has to create guidelines and further develop procedures to motivate AI among their undergraduates and faculty who supervise reinforcing the value of honesty.