Academic integrity in education in the context of sustainable development of society

Abstract

t is beyond argument that education is a cornerstone of the sustainable development of any society and state. The more educated society and its individual members are, the more capable the state and its economy and security and technology systems are of giving a targeted response to challenges of today’s world. However, education should not be seen as an end in itself. Certain quality requirements and standards should be respected in the educational process, one of them being academic integrity. Academic misconduct is firmly condemned both at educational institutions and in society, and occasionally the lawfulness of acquired education may be questioned. This kind of misconduct represents a phenomenon leading to several threats, and it can be interpreted as an intellectual property theft, which compromises the quality of education, thereby reducing a state’s capacity for development, and undermines confidence in educational institutions and persons who have committed misconduct, adversely affecting society in general. It should be emphasised that, if ignored, academicmisconduct facilitates legal nihilism in the long term. Therefore, one of priorities in education should be associated with solidifying academic integrity as a component of sustainable development. In the light of the above, this article analyses the understanding of academic integrity and how students can be punished for academic misconduct in the context of sustainable development, for which purpose internal regulations of major higher education institutions of the Republic of Latvia have been examined