Ethics and integrity serve as the foundation, which guides our behavior. Having personal integrity would mean to act based on one’s principles and philosophies and having professional integrity would mean to act according to the social standards of the profession. In my opinion, people of integrity maintain consistency between their thoughts, words, and actions. Integrity is a choice rather than an obligation. It is about doing what is right, even when no one is watching. It is a composition of various components, which includes the person’s upbringing and his beliefs as displayed over different situations in life. Integrity cannot be forced upon him through external factors.
A person who has a high standard of integrity will transfer them to his professional life, which will be aligned with the organization’s ethical standards. An organization’s success depends on the integrity of its members. Conducting business affairs that demonstrate integrity implies that organizations are complying with relevant laws, regulatory requirements and above all guided by the principles of self-governance. Such organizations are it academic or professional, over time will create an environment that supports ethical behavior and instill a sense of trustworthiness and dependability among people.
Various academic institutions have compliance based initiatives such as a code of conduct, training in relevant areas of law, mechanisms for reporting and investigating potential misconduct, and controls to ensure that institute’s standards are being met. An integrity-based initiative should seek to establish a culture of honesty in all aspects of teaching and research. As a student, academic integrity would be mean to make informed choices that will reflect responsible behavior, respect for knowledge and its development. Being a student at a university would mean that he is expected to conduct himself according to the values and principles of that university.
Acting with integrity is not only a student’s responsibility. It is a joint effort by the faculty, staff, and students. Creating an atmosphere of academic integrity lies with the members of the faculty. All the freshman students should be made to go through the university’s integrity code/tutorials, which describes the expectations and policies to adhere to and consequences related to their violations. For instance, most of the academic institutions have strict policies on plagiarism and cheating.
