Letter: Integrity is key

I REFER to your recent article regarding the increase in the numbers of students who have had proven cases of academic misconduct (19 January). I think the article was incredibly misleading insofar as it suggested that students are trying to cheat their way to a degree.

The increase in the numbers of proven academic misconducts is disappointing, but I believe they may have been taken out of context as quoted in your article.

The tone of the article suggests that students here at Robert Gordon University (RGU) are among the worst "cheats" in Scotland, when in fact I would suggest this is entirely erroneous.

At RGU we take the issue of plagiarism and academic integrity extremely seriously; we have invested heavily in recent years in educating our students in the style of referencing we expect for written submissions, as well as in educating staff how to detect instances of plagiarised or poorly referenced material.

All students are now required to submit written assessments to our advanced plagiarism detection software.

Many students come from differing educational or cultural backgrounds where quoting a source verbatim, with no formal recognition of the source, is the norm; it is only through the application of stringent plagiarism detection methods and thorough education of the referencing systems that we have in place that we can ensure our students are adequately prepared to gain a degree from the university.

There is no overnight "fix" for the issue of plagiarism but we are taking pioneering steps, from the stringent measures in place to our determination to move from traditional, formal styles of assessment to a more modern style of continuous personal development of students during their educational experience.

These steps are positives for which the university should be recognised and applauded.

Ryan Maclean

President, RGU Student Association

Schoolhill

Aberdeen