Join VDU SA exam monitoring. Become a volunteer observer!
Academic integrity is one of the most commonly heard phrases as we approach the reporting period. During this time VMU Students Representative Council (VMU SRC) organizes exam monitoring, where all interested students can become observers.
Academic honesty is a concept that is very often used in higher education. It is mainly based on adherence to the VMU Code of Ethics. According to Vitalija Jakubaitytė, Academic Affairs Coordinator of VMU SRC, academic dishonesty is any action during the reporting process when a student has the intention to use more than just his/her own knowledge: looking at a student’s work, using a phone, a smartwatch or any other sources of information dissemination.
By being academically dishonest, the student risks getting a debt from the course. As a result, failure to clear the debt may result in the loss of a state-funded place during the rotation and may result in the loss of the opportunity to defend the thesis in the final year of study. Such unethical behaviour may also be referred to the Ethics Committee, which, after analysing the situation, may take decisions ranging from a personal warning to expulsion from the university without right of return.
In order to support lecturers and to avoid cases of academic dishonesty, VMU SA conducts exam monitoring. Students themselves can become observers and contribute to ensuring academic integrity during the upcoming spring exam session. When asked about the importance of exam observation, the Academic Affairs Coordinator stated that “it is these observations that ensure academic integrity and make the work of lecturer-examiners easier. When there are more than a hundred students sitting in a lecture hall, it is quite logical that it is not possible to catch every single one of them, unless there are more than one or two people watching the exam. That is why we need human resources, in other words, student volunteers, who will not let a single attempt at academic dishonesty slip through their eyes.
Academic integrity is an important value of the university and the student body. “I believe that it should also be a value of every member of the academic community, because, in my opinion, it helps students to achieve the goal with which they come to higher education – the knowledge that helps them to build their future careers,” said Emilija Drabužinskaitė, President of VMU SA.
During the spring semester exam session, the exams will be monitored and volunteer student observers will help to ensure academic integrity. Every student can become one.
To become a student observer, please fill in the following form.
The deadline for filling in the form is 28 April. Registered students will be contacted personally.
If you have any questions, please contact akademai@vdusa.lt.
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