Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University actively participates in the “Academic Integrity and Quality of Education Initiative” project, which the Ukrainian higher education institutions have been implementing for two years – from 2020 to the present day. Prior to this, every institution of higher education underwent competitive selection.
We decided to communicate with the project group led by the vice-rector for scientific and pedagogical work and international cooperation, Larysa Zasiekina. Together with her colleagues, Andrii Boiar, the head of the International Economic Relations and Project Management department, and Olena Kotys, an associate professor of the Applied Linguistics department, Larysa Volodymyrivna told us about the project, its practical significance, and the importance of its implementation for the University, students, teachers, Volyn region, and Ukraine, in general.
According to an associate professor of the Applied Linguistics Department, Olena Kotys, the project is being implemented by the American Council on International Education with the assistance of the US Embassy in Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the National Agency for Quality Assurance of Higher Education of Ukraine (NAZYAVO). The need to implement the world leading practices in some higher education institutions arose with the beginning of accreditations and active cooperation of NAZYAVO with universities.
The first to learn about the project was Olena Koltys, and she told her colleagues about it. “We realized that we ought to get involved. The colleagues began to develop regulations on academic integrity practices and the quality of education at the University. This project was very promising: the involvement of many international partners, providing certain mechanisms that could help change the already-existing practices, etc.”
Later, the project group shared the plans with Anatolii Tsos. The rector gladly supported the possibility of implementing such a project within the University and helped in every way for two years. Then, there was intense work with mentors at seminars, interaction with respondents, and conducting questionnaires.
Undoubtedly, the main purpose of any activity is the potential benefit it brings and will bring. Our interlocutors explained the practical significance of the “Initiative of Academic Integrity and Quality of Education” project realization.
Larysa Zasiekina noted that first of all, academic integrity is the requirement of NAZYAVO because all the programs studied by students must be accredited. Among primary requirements is the university's compliance with the principles of academic integrity. “If we look deeper, academic integrity is a value that is associated with integrity in the country, which guarantees high economic development of the state, democracy, etc. Therefore, if Ukraine has embarked on the path of developing democratic values, then it must get rid of its corrupt past, which flourished under the Soviet Union. This is a different format of values. Academic integrity is not only a regulatory document or program that checks the text for plagiarism. This is not enough because we are talking about consequences, and working with consequences is always ineffective. The root of the problem is the lack of value of being virtuous. It is necessary to form such an academic environment in which every student and teacher understand that being honest is a value,” said Larysa Volodymyrivna. According to the vice-rector, the formation of integrity should not proceed only because some documents or programs force it but because its principles must be confessed and not violated. The development of democracy, the observance of rights, the prosperity of the state, etc., depend on this.
The University considered the issue of academic integrity long before the implementation of the “Academic IQ” project. Andriy Boyar, head of the Department of International Economic Relations and Project Management, was one of the first to take this path. It was he who, back in 2004, initiated the study of the discipline “Intellectual property” at the University, which laid the foundations of academic integrity program. As Andrii Boiar said, the project had given impetus and established an informational-methodological framework for the implementation of the academic integrity policy at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn University.
What does the implementation of the project mean for the University?
Speaking about the realistic changes in the University due to the “Academic IQ” project realization, representatives of the project group mention the memorandum signed between Lesya Ukrainka University and the American Councils for International Education. In addition, Larysa Zasiekina lists several advantages that the higher education institution got from participating in the project. The vice-rector said: “Firstly, we have completely updated the regulatory framework; secondly, a number of measures were initiated, such as surveys of students, teachers, and University administration. We study problem areas of our work that need to be corrected. We have launched Academic Integrity Week, during which faculties held various events. We invited the director of the International Center for Academic Integrity from Washington and his deputy to participate in workshops. During the workshop, they explained how it works in the US. The head of NAZYAVO Serhii Kvit and his deputy were the workshop guests. They informed about the requirements for higher education institutions within the framework of accreditation programs”.
At meetings with foreign and domestic specialists, representatives of the University have learned many interesting techniques, which they later used for work. For example, the “Traffic Light” technique helped to identify “hot spots” in the implementation of academic integrity and make appropriate management decisions to strengthen weak positions. Efficient work was carried out to inform students about the punishment for violating academic integrity.
According to Andrii Boiar, many people think that a project is primarily about money. In our case, the academic community receives another thing – intangible values. “This is a project that provides informational and scientific-methodical support for a higher education institution, not monetary support. The university implements this policy with its own resources. But informational and methodical support is extremely important. Within the framework of the project, we invited foreign experts to tell us about how this work is organized in the world's leading educational institutions,” explains the scientist.
Professional sociologists helped us create two questionnaires and conduct a survey, analyze the received data, and create reports on it. The results and conclusions were reported to the authorities of Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University and to the university community on the website. The next step is the implementation of reforms and changes.
The survey revealed gaps in academic integrity and weak points. “In this regard, we have intensified information work, introduced the Week of Academic Integrity, add a module on academic integrity to the discipline “Introduction to the profession” at the bachelor's level. There is a course “Academic integrity and Scientific Ethics” in the postgraduate program. Some specific norms were prescribed in the “Code of Academic Integrity,” Andrii Boiar said.
Olena Kotys added that earlier students chose the programs to check their scientific work for plagiarism at their own discretion. Now, they can do it with the Strike Plagiarism and Unicheck applications.
Larysa Zasiekina emphasized that this allows checking more works. Previously, it concerned only checking candidates' theses. But it is very important to start this work with the students from school.
“It is not too late to talk about academic integrity with the first-year students. But it is desirable that young people know about it from school. It is important to start with checking the coursework so that the student could understand the specifics and have a better understanding of how it works when starting the qualification work,” said Larisa Zasekina.
The students immediately liked the changes caused by the project. They showed interest, but there appeared a problem due to the information barrier. Thus, students were not well informed about the sanctions for violating the rules of academic integrity.
However, the process of forming values of academic integrity concerns not only students but also teachers. First of all, it is about a clear explanation of the subject matter, modules, assessment criteria, etc. Relations in the “teacher-student” plane should be democratic, focused on the latter.
Teachers also demonstrate their interest and activity in the development of academic integrity, in particular during preparation for Academic Integrity Week. Larisa Zasekina jokes: “There were so many events that we hardly managed to form a compact program.” The University also decided to create a relevant document – the “Code of Academic Integrity”.
Teachers and students can make their changes and suggestions on the site of Lesya Ukrainka University by filling in an open form. Thus, the code will be developed jointly and will satisfy everyone.
World recognition and assistance of the University in the “promotion” of Ukraine in the Council of Europe
As our communicators said, the main goals of the project are not of material nature. This is a values-minded reformatting of thinking, views on work and learning, the formation of a new philosophy, and the acquisition of a system of abilities and skills necessary for the implementation of academic integrity. These mechanisms have been confidently launched at the University, and the achievement of the goals set is inevitable.
However, it is always nice to receive proper evaluation and recognition of your work. So, last year in December, the University received an award from the Education Department of the Council of Europe in the competition “Best Practices for Promoting Academic Integrity in Higher Education Institutions of Europe”. Rector Anatoly Tsios and a vice-rector Larysa Zasiekina went to French Strasburg for the awarding ceremony. It is important to note that Lesya Ukrainka University is the only university out of 60 participants of the Academic IQ project that was awarded in Strasbourg.
Our higher education institution was recognized as the best in the “Education Quality Assurance” nomination. In addition, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Free University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen (Netherlands), University of Montenegro, Technical University of Moldova, University of Oslo (Norway), Flemish Interuniversity Council won in various nominations.
Larysa Zasiekina recalled how she and the head of the international relations department, Vladyslav Kolomechuk, saw an announcement on the website of the European Association of Universities about a competition on the best practices of implementing academic integrity during the pandemic, which involved a report about own experience at the Council of Europe in case of winning a prize.
“Together with Iryna Glova and Vladyslav Kolomechiuk, we wrote an application, and the University was chosen as the best in the nomination “Ensuring the quality of education”. The team was selected for the semi-finals, where Andrii Boiar joined us. At this stage, we presented our University very well at the interview and passed to the finals. We are satisfied and happy because this is the result of all our teamwork,” said Larysa Zasiekina.
According to the vice-rector, they were filled with unusual emotions and pride for receiving a high award. It was an event of a non-Ukrainian scale. For the first time, the Ukrainian university appeared at the Council of Europe! The delegates from Volyn also met with the official representative of the Council of Europe in Ukraine, Borys Tarasiuk.
“When Anatolii Vasyliovych and I were looking for the right conference hall, Borys Tarasiuk came up to us and asked if we were not from Ukraine. Borys Ivanovych showed us around and introduced us as representatives of a prominent Ukrainian university from Volyn. He invited us to the office of Ukraine in the Council of Europe. When we entered the conference hall, we were very much surprised that the event had such publicity. He thanked us and stressed, that it was a real breakthrough for Ukraine. The agency of Ukraine in the Council of Europe works hard and does its best to show that Ukraine is a country that deserves to be in the European Union and has many reasons for it. He admitted that our University made a great contribution and we manifested that Ukraine has many achievements in various fields and in the academic and educational sphere, in particular”, Ms. Larysa shared her memories. During the presentation of other universities, Anatoly Tsios and Larysa Zasiekina generated a few more ideas. Educators from Volyn decided that this was not their last visit to Strasbourg. Therefore, the University will monitor information about new competitions aimed at ensuring the quality of education and the implementation of academic integrity.
At the final and closing meeting of the project, Larysa Zasiekina offered to share the lessons learned with other Ukrainian higher education institutions. The domestic teams achieved good results because they had adapted international experience to the conditions of Ukraine. The two Western- Ukrainian higher education institutions (I. Ya. Gorbachevskiy Ternopil State Medical University and the Rivne National University of Water and Nature Management) have already shown their great interest in this project.
Larysa Zasiekina also spoke about plans for the implementation and dissemination of academic integrity, in particular, about the dream of digitizing such a platform. Students of the Faculty of Information Technologies and Mathematics can help with this.
“I dream of putting the experience and knowledge, techniques, and tools we acquired during the project on a digital basis. We have been working remotely for several years. Under such conditions, remote academic integrity implementation tools are needed. It is with the help of a digitalized platform that we could involve teachers and students to discuss such issues,” said the vice-rector.
Currently, the project is being completed, but scientists of the University claim that it has the prospect of continuation because the necessity of improving and growing is everlasting.
“The primary task of the University is to provide high-quality education, therefore, such a project as Academic IQ and its implementation tools to ensure academic integrity will affect positively the quality of education. We will have high-level students who will later become well-prepared and successful specialists who work for the good of the country and our region,” concluded Larysa Zasiekina.
The interview was conducted
by Andrii PETRUSHKO
