MGMT 3700: Management & Leadership Dr Janice Seto

Why many international students get a failing grade in academic integrity JAMES BRADSHAW and TAMARA BALUJA
From Saturday's Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/universitynews/why-many-internationalstudents-get-a-failing-grade-in-academic-integrity/article2152899/ Published Friday, Sep. 02, 2011 10:34PM EDT Last updated Saturday, Sep. 03, 2011 7:57AM EDT

University students break the rules for a host of reasons some make a bad decision under pressure at 3 a.m., others insist they were just helping a classmate. But at some Canadian schools, an alarming number of the accused share one characteristic: they came from abroad to study here. The disproportionate number of international students accused of plagiarism or cheating on exams is raising red flags in university administrations and legal aid offices. It also raises questions as to whether schools should be doing more for stressed-out foreign students who are grappling with new educational standards, often while coping with a language barrier.
RESEARCH

Why do international students cheat?

With governments and universities across Canada increasing their efforts to recruit more students from abroad, and some opening branch campuses abroad, there is a growing desire to understand why so many new arrivals are getting a failing grade in academic integrity. Most Canadian universities do not track academic offences by a students country of origin, which makes definitive measures of the problem difficult. But those on the front lines of the universities support services and legal aid clinics are certain that a significantly higher proportion of international students are getting in trouble. The imbalance is striking at Downtown Legal Services, the University of Toronto legal aid clinic that assists students charged with academic offences, said staff lawyer Karen Bellinger. I would say, anecdotally, that well over 50 % of [clients] are international students, she said. This group makes up about 12 per cent of the total student body at U of T. After perceiving a similar trend, the University of Windsor began keeping track three years ago. A 2008-2009 report from Academic Integrity Officer Danielle Istl shows one in 82 international students was accused of academic misconduct, compared with one in 300 domestic students. Both numbers decreased the next year, but the percentage of international students accused was still more than three times higher.

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International students facing discipline most commonly say they were reared in drastically different learning styles, burdened with expectations from families that have invested heavily in them, or lacked the confidence to shape and convey ideas in English. Some cheat for the same reasons as anyone a lack of understanding or attention to what is allowed, especially in grey areas like group work, or a desire to boost flagging marks but schools increasingly realize cultural barriers can put them at greater risk of academic dishonesty, intentional or not. Karan, who did not want his last name published, is a recent international graduate of U of Ts Faculty of Arts and Science, and admits he was let off with a warning over apparent plagiarism after copying text from lecture slides word-for-word in a paper. In India, he had relied on reproducing the words of his teachers and rote learning to succeed in India, and was taken aback by the emphasis placed on critical analysis and proper citation of sources in Canada. Basically [the professor] said I didnt cite at all, said Karan. Back home, we listen to our teachers, and basically mug everything they say. The more you write your answers exactly the way they say it, the better chance you have of getting an A. Then theres the weight of expectations carried by many students who have crossed continents and oceans to study, paying high international fees. I think most students dont plan on cheating ... it just happens, Karan said. Often times, parents back home will be spending a lot of money to send you abroad, and the hope is that with this Canadian degree, you will get a better job back home or sponsor your parents to move. A 2006 study published by the Higher Education Academy in the U.K. found that more than 60 per cent of the international students surveyed, particularly those from some Asian countries, believed that failure to use the same wording as a teacher or authority figure in an assignment would be the same as criticizing them. It found these students are not persistent plagiarizers but suggested it was easier to detect plagiarism in their work than in the work of native English speakers. Most universities consider any presentation of another persons words or ideas as ones own without crediting the original source to be plagiarism. After arriving at U of T from Taiwan, Hannah Liu found she and her friends often felt they lacked the vocabulary and writing skills to be confident paraphrasing research material. If [students] dont know how to rewrite the sentence, they probably think, Ill just copy and paste it, she said.

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Niraj Maharaj encounters this explanation often in his role as Student Rights and Support Services Co-ordinator at the York Federation of Students despite York Universitys mandatory English proficiency test for students educated in another language. A number of students have mentioned that the test doesnt really register what a university-level essay would look like, focusing instead on basic grammar and sentence structure, Mr. Maharaj said. Virtually all universities have writing tutorial services, but they tend to be voluntary, and many students dont take advantage of them until they run into trouble. The services can be there, but some people dont have the courage [to ask for help], or it could be an issue of pride, said Kevin Williams, a Carleton University student from St. Lucia who sought tutoring when his first paper was deemed on the borderline of academic honesty. McGill Universitys Legal Information Clinic is drafting a report for the university administration. At U of T, Ms. Bellinger said she has raised the alarming numbers with the Governing Council, and its Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office is also aware. But a U of T spokesperson said, to the best of our knowledge Downtown Legal Services has not referred the issue to either body, and the university does not plan to track academic offences by country of origin. Instead, it has initiatives intended to guide all students from embedding advisers in colleges to holding workshops to train faculty and instructors. Still, Ms. Bellinger feels most students training isnt that extensive. Many schools, such as Windsor, have special orientation for international students, but there is a growing push to extend informational programs later into the first term, when students are less caught up in getting their lives in order, said Rose Faddoul, counsel at the University of Windsors Community Legal Aid.
And Windsor may also copy a measure other schools like Concordia University already use: a short, online academic integrity quiz every student takes when registering for courses.

Theres lots we can do, Ms. Istl said. The challenge, though, is time and resources. Comments on this article submitted online 4:08 AM on September 3, 2011 Using the excuse that international students do not understand western rules or academic customs regarding palgiarism is simply cultural relativism. I am a graduate student in Ontario. Every graduate and undergraduate course outline, orientation session, essay and examination instruction sheet and the student manual has a section on academic integrity. Before every assignment is handed out there are reminders Prepared 2011 September 5

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and instructions concerning plagiarism. Software is available to check one's work for plagiarism or even simple similarity with other works. As the story mentions, there are academic advisors, writing manuals and writing centres available in all universities. There are also teaching assistants, tutorial leaders and instructors available for virtually every course. One cannot make any excuse at all based on "not knowing the rules". A cheater is a cheater is a cheater. 9:44 AM on September 3, 2011 so FIGJAM that is exactly what he is saying some students are not like him.... they are cheaters and a very large portion come from countries where this is seen as ok. I lived in China for 8 years, cheating is an important part of work school and play. in China you "lose more face" by pointing out a cheater than by actually being a cheater 10:01 AM on September 3, 2011 I agree with pdhlondon1. Provided that the proper support system is in place to teach students about plagiarism, being an international student should make no difference. Once I attended an information session where the professor actually said, "If you are an international student and you plagiarize, the same rules apply to you. Don't even think about it." International students are bright and capable of learning. That's why they're here. They can learn about academic integrity as much as any Canadian kid just out of high school. 10:13 AM on September 3, 2011 Seems like the "we need to recognize foreign credentials, now!" crowd is still sleeping. Please weigh in foreign credential cheerleaders, we are all waiting for you're insight :) 10:27 AM on September 3, 2011 My daughter was a TA in math. She found that affluent international students would treat her like a servant and blame their failures on the TAs and profs. They were frequently spoiled and expected to be catered to hand and foot. Once they realised this was not going to happen, most of them shaped up. 10:41 AM on September 3, 2011

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Maybe they should start with the official languages test. reading and writing. To be fair, tested in one of official languages. I am sure this would show many surprises. 10:45 AM on September 3, 2011 Is not it the idea to show that a person has learnt their materials and can explain it in their own words? One is so hard to understand about that 10:58 AM on September 3, 2011 Nobody is excusing students who are caught 'cheating'. However, if an entire class of students is caught cheating, maybe the reasons why they have chosen to do so should be considered (ie. Teacher makes it too easy to cheat, expectations are too high/low, unclear about rules, etc). Likewise, if a particular student demographic is continually caught cheating, instead of branding them all as criminals, and not take the steps to change anything, we could actually listen to them and consider the reasons behind their actions, and then take the steps to deter students from doing so in the future. If you ask me, from my own experience at university this past year, the opposite is true. Most of the international students are too scared to cheat or step out of line in any way, because they do not want to be sent home. Many simply do not understand the guidelines or grading schemes and what is expected of them. In any case, I believe most cases of plagiarism in university are unintentional. In fact, all of the students I have known who have cheated intentionally have gone to school in Canada their entire lives--they know the technology, they know expectations and the system, they know the loopholes and they are able to take advantage of it. International students, not so much. One should also not discount the drastic differences in terms of learning styles and student expectation s around the world. As one of the students in the article stated, in many schools you are expected to agree with everything your teacher says in order to get an A. Many people come from places where challenging authority is punishable by law... meanwhile, in many Canadian universities, students must be critical thinkers in order to get a B grade. 11:38 AM on September 3, 2011 Plagiarism as far as I know is universal to the student community it is not only the international students who commit it there are local students too and plenty of them. Well as pdhlondon1 mentioned just now there are software that detect plagiarism these are good and bad as the ones who want to cheat and know about it will not be caught well as the ones that do not know about this software are the only ones that get caught for now.

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:20 PM on September 3, 2011 Some claim they don't know the rules because they didn't understand English well enough to comprehend the rules! 4:49 PM on September 3, 2011 We need a Canadian S.A.T. test! 5:25 PM on September 3, 2011 As someone who grades papers, I can say it is easier to catch international students cheating since their english is poor compared to domestic students. If their english improves all of a sudden in a particular paper, it is quite noticeable and likely they cheated. 8:33 PM on September 3, 2011 in my experience, canadian students are just as likely as international students to cheat. and I give all of them the same lecture on plagiarism and academic dishonesty, and it's in all my syllabi. All international students need to pass a Toefl test (and get a certain score) before they are even considered for admission in a Canadian university. This also applies to any student whose first degree is in a foreign language, even if they have lived in Canada for decades (like my wife). as pdhlondon states, cheaters are cheaters and you get them everywhere. Plagiarism is the one thing that pisses me off more than anything else in the world. its lazy and it's unethical. and I have no patience for it. 4:35 AM on September 4, 2011 Well even in Canadian high schools "plaigarism" is expected. On short answer exam questions if you don't use key words or exact phrases as lectured by the teacher then you lose marks... There's a difference between that and an essay though, obviously. Math is 100% plaigarism, isn't it? 11:56 PM on September 2, 2011 Just look at the part of the world many of them come from. Their whole governments run on corruption. Which is mostly why their parents have enough money to send them to a Canadian school.

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8:28 AM on September 3, 2011 Lets stop making "multicultural" excuses for these people. A cheater is a cheater. Anybody who is caught cheating should be dismissed from the university. The reason why many of these foreign students are so desperate to gain a Canadian university degree, is that they can use it to sponsor their families and bypass the immigration qualifications required. It is time we plugged this loophole and tightened up on basic university qualifications, such as being able to speak and write in one of the official languages. 7:31 AM on September 3, 2011 I meant to add this link to my earler post. It is from the UWO Ombudsman's Office and deals specifically with the issue of academic integrity. Nobody at university who reads this statement can have even a .0001% misunderstanding of the process, rights and obligations of all students when it comes to plagiarism or other integrity issues. PLEASE....no more pandering to cheaters of any background by saying they may not have understood the rules or customs. http://www.uwo.ca/ombuds/student/cheating.html 10:06 AM on September 3, 2011 The line about international students not knowing how to write a sentence???????? HOW ON EARTH DID THEY PASS THE ENTRY REQUIREMENTS FOR UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE? Stop adapting our morals, values and standards to accomodate 'internationals' of any sort. Students, workers, parents and children. Canada has always been a land of opportunity. You would expect anybody who takes advantage of these opportunities to live up to the Canadian morals and laws. If our Canadian students went to a foreign country (for school, vacation, volunteering) they would be EXPECTED to live within the limits set out by the foreign community. Turn our universities back into places where honesty and integrity are felt in the air on the grounds, in the walls of the halls and in the pages of books. Operate within the generous limits of our society OR do not enter in the first place.

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Don't want cheaters - raise the bar for foreign students!! (specifically understanding of western education systems and requirements) Not necessarily the price - but the expectations. 8:52 AM on September 3, 2011 Multiculturalism means respecting the traditions and attributes of the cultures of others. In many cultures seeking to gain an advantage through bribery, lying, fakery or cheating comes as naturally as breathing. As a nation that embraces multiculturalism, we should be more tolerant of these excesses. Just kidding. We should throw these students out and abandon multiculturalism. 10:02 AM on September 3, 2011 I attended Simon Fraser University, which has A LOT of foreign students, and this problem was extremely obvious. In fact, at least one course had to be redesigned (no more term project) because basically there were too many cheaters. I can state with confidence that that made the course worse. It's also not very pleasant or sociable to attend a university where 50% of the students in your major have trouble conducting a conversation in English. University is one area where multiculturalism doesn't seem to work very well IMHO. Gipkik 9:32 AM on September 3, 2011 International students cheat because they got away with it back home. I've taught in several Asian countries and cheating was acceptable--starting in elementary school. No surprise they're getting caught here. Many probably still don't understand what the big deal is. The whiny--"but I didn't know any better!"-- excuses are also no surprise. Questions 1. In which ways are students at Jiangsu Lambton better prepared for studying abroad compared with others in regular university programs? 2. Would you agree with the students quoted on the cultural explanation for why they cheat? 3. What two activities could you do on your own to increase your chances of academic success studying abroad?

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