It's complicated: staff experiences of academic integrity at a Mauritian university

Academic integrity is presented as a complex, multidimensional concept that involves all members of an educational institution. However, non-teaching staff members are often excluded from research on academic integrity. I engaged in professional support alongside academic staff to explore how academic integrity is understood within the Mauritius branch of a UK higher education institution.

I adopted a qualitative approach to engage those tasked with implementing academic integrity to examine how they understood and practised it. Data were gathered through face-to-face focus-group interviews, which were translated into themes.

This article identified the factors that make academic integrity challenging and presents recommendations for practitioners and researchers.

More energy should be invested in the processes that build cultures of integrity rather than focusing on the opposite, such as cheating, plagiarism, and misconduct. Academic integrity is ultimately a positive values-driven approach to learning and a skill that can be developed and strengthened.