DUBAI // The emirate will host the region’s first international conference on academic integrity next year, addressing problems of cheating by students, staff inflating students’ grades, teachers applying for jobs with false credentials and the culture of learning by rote, even in universities
Dr Gina Eichner Cinali, a local academic and board member for the International Centre for Academic Integrity (ICAI) which will host the event, said it is time to bring the community together to address fundamental issues relating to the standards and quality of education in the UAE and the region.
“We all see corruption is the biggest hindrance to economic and social development and this starts with kindergarten, teaching kids not to lie, cheat and steal. It’s an ongoing process,” Dr Cinali said.
The University of Wollongong Dubai and the University of Dubai are already on board as partners for the event.
The conference will address issues Dr Cinali says are regional and UAE specific, such as “kinship syndrome” where family members are employed by an institution based on connections rather than qualifications and students using “wasta” to have grades inflated.
“If this doesn’t get tackled, the system will just keep going down,” Dr Cinali said.
Kevin Nawn, an English teacher at a private university in Dubai, said the conference would be important only if those who attend came away with practical tools to address issues of academic integrity in their own classes and universities.
“If the conference is primarily theoretical, it won’t serve much of a purpose. That is why I think involvement of faculty from the region is crucial.”
Zeenath Khan, who is studying for her PhD on academic integrity at the University of Wollongong in Dubai, said there was much work to be done by students, parents and teachers to tackle the issue.
“It’s so important for the region because it’s really time that we take this issue seriously. It’s an issue we need to fight together, schools and universities.”
She said that a unified set of ethics and an understanding about what cheating means, including its economic impact, could be built only through dialogue, such as conferences.
“Parents think they’re helping when they do their assignments for their children but they don’t realise that when it comes to getting a job, they won’t be able to keep these jobs.
“We have students who get great jobs when they leave but cannot hang on to them.”
Tracey Bretag, the president of the executive board of the ICAI, said the motivation behind the event was to facilitate the sharing of best practice and latest research on the topic to delegates who may not have the opportunity to travel to the ICAI annual conference in North America.
“It will also give participants the opportunity to discuss UAE-specific issues.”
mswan@thenational.ae