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| Vice Rector (Research) Prof. Rui Martins delivers the opening remarks at the workshop |
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| FED Dean Prof. Fan Xitao informs the students of the importance of academic honesty |
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| Associate Dean of the Graduate School Prof. Maggie Fu explains to the students the guidelines on handling academic dishonesty |
In order to promote the awareness of academic honesty among postgraduates, the University of Macau’s (UM) Graduate School organized a workshop on Wednesday, 1 February 2012. Approximately sixty postgraduate students attended the workshop.
UM is committed to fostering an environment that exemplifies the values of honesty, trust, respect, fairness and responsibility. To ensure that students understand their obligations, a handbook outlining rules on handling students’ academic dishonesty has been published. This handbook informs students of the significance and importance of academic honesty as well as ways to avoid acts of academic dishonesty and address violations of academic honesty. It is against this background that the Graduate School organized the workshop.
The workshop began with a very inspiring speech by Vice Rector (Research) Prof. Rui Martins, followed by an insightful presentation from Prof. Fan Xitao, dean of the Faculty of Education, on the importance of academic honesty. Prof. Fan provided examples of top academics in South Korea, China and the U.S. who were heavily penalized for acts of academic dishonesty and plagiarism. He also explained how some measures can be taken to ensure academic honesty from students. From his presentation, the students understood the need for academic integrity and honesty and the consequences of academic dishonesty, even if it was committed many years ago. Afterwards, Prof. Maggie Fu, associate dean of the Graduate School, presented to the students the guidelines on academic honesty that UM were preparing, and outlined how academic dishonesty would be handled. After the presentations, Prof. Fan and Prof. Fu answered several questions raised by the students on the issues of plagiarism and academic honesty.
The workshop successfully achieved its purpose of informing students about the importance of academic honesty and the need to be responsible for the integrity of their work. In a follow-up to the workshop, the Graduate School will distribute the official copy of the guidelines on academic honesty and the rules on handling student academic dishonesty to postgraduate students in late February.
