Search Page

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released the Draft UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2017. As the name suggests, the aim of the draft is to create academic awareness about responsible conduct of research and prevention of misconduct including plagiarism in academic writing. The draft also seeks to establish institutional mechanism for promotion of academic integrity and develop systems to detect and prevent plagiarism.

Teachers must abide by the code of conduct and ethics that have been developed by their employers, the anti-corruption watchdog has said. “Compliance with the ethical and integrity standard set under these law is a duty and not a choice. No sector or individual is at liberty to choose what provisions of the law to apply to them,” said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) chief executive officer. Teachers have rejected attempts to have their their income and assets audited while in service and on exit by by their employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

The Ministry of Education is working on new guidelines that will ensure that the integrity of examination certificates is restored. The guidelines set to be tabled soon in Parliament will have stiffer penalties on responsibilities of all those involved in examination process. Sweeping changes have been done at the Kenya National Examinations Council with a view of restoring examinations integrity. Last month, the government disbanded the Kenya National Examinations Council board over last year’s national exams cheating scandal.

Members of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity discussed their latest set of proposals to overhaul the accreditation process and the way the committee assesses the accreditors. Soon after, the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released a somewhat similar set of proposals in a white paper written by committee staff members.