Academic Integrity in a Digital Age

Despite the fact that academic freedom is a fundamental right, the issue of academic integrity should be emphasized. Due to the massive usage of the internet, students tend to go against integrity. Often we see students copying materials from others’ work and re-submit as if it was their own invention. Universities and other public research organizations worldwide need to protect their inventions so as to help and encourage new start ups in academic writing. The argument in university IP protection is needed against a broader policy framework aiming at fostering a greater interaction between public research and industry in order to increase the social and private returns from public support to Research and Development. It is widely assumed that the legislative scheme governing Organizational ownership of copyright and inventions applies indiscriminately, including in the context of academic employers. The result is that universities are assumed to own the copyright in the lectures, books, musical scores, research notes and other works created by academic employees in the course of their employment, along with any innovative methods or products which they invented. This assumption is reflected in the intellectual property policies of most Universities, and in the technology transfer initiatives which those policies support this.