Philosophy of Academic Integrity

Learn about our vision for teaching, learning, and supporting student success with integrity.

This statement, adopted in June 2018, establishes a vision for teaching, learning, and supporting student success with integrity across the academic experience at University of Maryland Global Campus. It is aspirational, describing high-level values, commitments, and principles that will guide the university's efforts to intentionally instill, maintain, and enhance a shared culture of integrity, through integrity-related policy, process, and operations.

Our Philosophy of Academic Integrity

The vision of UMGC is to build the skills, competencies, and capabilities of our students to realize their professional aspirations.¹ Integrity is the foundation of this vision. In alignment with the International Center for Academic Integrity, UMGC defines integrity as "a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage."² More than avoiding or sanctioning misconduct, teaching and learning with integrity ensures the knowledge, skills, and abilities that students develop are authentic and demonstrable, and thus support autonomy and self-determination in life and work.

Our Commitments to a Culture of Teaching and Learning with Integrity

The fundamental values of integrity are core components of character, and they are lived out in specific contexts, moments, and situations. Accordingly, a culture of academic integrity involves two equally important commitments. First, because integrity is a collective good, a culture of academic integrity must establish and uphold a shared commitment to the highest standards of ethics and morality for everyone at all times in all things. Second, because integrity is challenged in specific situations, a culture of integrity requires a commitment to grappling with what it means to live, work, teach, and learn with integrity in all the fields, disciplines, and careers represented in higher education.

Our Principles for a Culture of Teaching and Learning with Integrity

Students, faculty, staff, and administrators are accountable individually and collectively for upholding a culture of integrity by living out its values every day.
Teaching and learning give students at all levels opportunities to increasingly master the skills central to the practice of academic integrity (including information literacy, paraphrasing, synthesis, independent analysis, peer collaboration, and proper citation practices).
Educating with integrity seeks not only to eradicate academic misconduct but also to illuminate and give opportunities for practicing the ways that the values of integrity are implicit and essential to all academic programs, fields, disciplines, and careers.
Cultivating a culture of integrity is a process that can include failure as part of students' formation as academic citizens and successful professionals.
Lapses in integrity arising from gaps in knowledge, skills, abilities, or understanding are often most effectively addressed through remedial instruction.
Cheating, deception, and fraud corrupt education and authentic assessment of learning. Fair and appropriate sanctions for academic corruption uphold the principle of shared accountability central to a culture of academic integrity.

¹ Source: "Strategic Plan 2024-30", University of Maryland Global Campus, 2024.² Source: “Fundamental Values,” International Center for Academic Integrity, 2021.

Questions?

Contact the Office of Academic Integrity and Accountability with any questions or concerns:

Email: integrity@umgc.edu
Phone: 240-684-2165