Home

Home > Our Work

Plagiarism: overcoming the cultural issues associated with plagiarism for international students

 

 

Description

It is the purpose of this report to highlight that a proactive focus on education and training in intercultural competence and academic practice has profound implications in addressing the issue of plagiarism amongst international students.

 

Executive Summary:

Plagiarism is not a new phenomenon.  However, reports in the media indicate increases in plagiarism cases in higher education (Times Higher Educational Supplement (THES), 2005a, 2005b, 2004a, 2004b, 2000). A range of factors has been identified in the literature as reasons why students plagiarise. Some of the reports highlighted cultural factors as reasons why international students plagiarise. And a few of the reports indicated that international students are ‘persistent plagiarists’.

This report presents the findings of the Higher Education Academy, Business Management Accounting and Finance (BMAF) Subject Network, the aim of which was to investigate the reasons why international students plagiarise; identify the cultural factors which cause them to engage in plagiarism practices and to identify strategies to enable international students overcome the cultural factors that cause them to plagiarise.

Findings from the study revealed the key cultural factors associated with why international students plagiarise were - the students’ intercultural ‘uncompetence’ evidenced by lack of understanding of the concept of plagiarism from the western construct; language problem; previous educational experience in which respect for ‘authority figures’ was given high prominence; lack of understanding of referencing conventions; belief that referencing and attribution was not necessary once materials were already available in the public domain such as the Internet and personal values.

The study highlighted the importance of intercultural competence in effectively addressing the issues of plagiarism amongst international students. A proactive approach using a battery of strategies, for example, acculturation, education and training intervention (including awareness raising on plagiarism issues language and learner support) was found to be very effective in overcoming cultural issues that cause some international students to engage in plagiarism practices (See Section 4.3).

The notion that international students are ‘persistent plagiarists’ was found not to be the case in our study.  Moreso, institutional academic regulations, would not allow individuals who ‘persistently plagiarise to remain as bona fide students. Not only will this undermine quality of standards, but, it will bring the university’s reputation into disrepute.  In this regard, it is important that sanctions for plagiarism is robust enough to act as a deterrent to ‘would be plagiarist’.

In the context of increasing numbers of international students in UK Business Schools, it is important that for the maintenance of academic quality and standards, institutions must ensure that staff who teach this group of students are culturally competent, i.e. are aware of and understand the students’ cultural background and learning needs to be able to provide effective support that is vital to the students’ development.

 

 

Related documents/URLs

 

Start date

2005-05-01

End date

2006-03-31