Academic Integrity and Ethics

Academic freedom and its attendant responsibilities are integral in a faculty member’s conduct. Professors and teaching assistants have freedom to pursue academic research interests as long as such activities do not compromise the fulfillment of other academic duties. They have full freedom of expression inside and outside of the classroom but should not subject students to topics irrelevant to the content of a given course. No limitations should be imposed on the faculty member’s right to express ideas publicly, but, when the faculty member speaks publicly, he or she must make an effort to avoid appearing as a spokesperson for the university. In addition, as a member of an academic community they recognize the importance of valuing and respecting the rights of others to express their views as well.

A university is devoted to the discovery and communication of knowledge. In this endeavor, intellectual or academic integrity is of the utmost importance and its absence is therefore taken very seriously. Professors and teaching assistants play an important role and have the responsibility to foster intellectual honesty as well as the intellectual development of students. They should carefully scrutinize methods of teaching and assignments in order to encourage students to be honest. They should explain clearly the meaning of cheating and plagiarism as they apply to the course. Their obligation is particularly serious in connection with examinations. It is their duty to arrange for careful supervision of all examinations and class exercises . Should the professor or teaching assistant detect signs of cheating or plagiarism, it is their most serious obligation to investigate these thoroughly, to take appropriate action with respect to the grades of students, and, in any event, to report the matter to the dean. The necessity to report every case of cheating, whether or not further action is required, arises particularly because of the possibility that this is not the student’s first offense. Equity also demands that a uniform practice be enforced; ensuring equal treatment of offending students.

Cheating

Dishonesty of any kind with respect to examinations, course assignments, alterations of records, or illegal possession of examinations shall be considered cheating. It is the responsibility of the students not only to abstain from cheating but also to avoid the appearance of cheating and to guard against making it possible for others to cheat. Any student who helps another student to cheat is as guilty of cheating as the student he or she assists. The student should respect the assessment processes and remain honest in the performance of assigned tasks in or out of the class.

Plagiarism

Honesty requires that any ideas or materials taken from another source, for either written or oral use, are acknowledged.. The language or ideas thus taken from another may range from isolated paragraphs to entire articles copied from books, periodicals, speeches or the writings of other students. Submitting the work of someone else as one’s own is also plagiarism.

Code of Professional Ethics

The primary purposes of an academic community are learning, teaching, and scholarship. These purposes are characterized by open discourse, individual honesty, respect for divergent views, and openness to constructive criticism. A member of an academic community has all fundamental rights as well as attendant responsibilities of citizens. The university member also has rights and responsibilities to the university community.

The provisions of this code apply to all university personnel whose responsibilities include teaching, scholarship, and/or academic administration.

Rights and Responsibilities of FUE Teaching Staff /General Principles and Code of Professional Ethics

Scholarship: Members of the academic community recognize their fundamental responsibility of seeking and stating the truth. The scholar strives to continually improve his/her own knowledge in a chosen discipline. The scholar uses sound judgment in using, transmitting, and extending knowledge. Intellectual honesty is an integral component of all scholarly undertakings.

Teaching: The teacher encourages learning in students and personifies the best scholarly standards. The teacher respects students as individuals by establishing a relationship of mutual trust. In addition, the teacher creates systems to honestly and accurately evaluate student achievement and scholastic performance. A university faculty member refrains from profiting from student achievement; significant student assistance on personal projects must be acknowledged. The teacher at all times protects the student’s academic freedom by allowing students to express ideas and opinions freely.

The teacher recognizes that his/her position of authority requires professionalism in all teacher/student relationships. A healthy learning community is characterized by mutual trust and respect among all individuals. Any faculty member or student who violates such trust and/or respect undermines the mission of the university. Those in positions of authority must never abuse or appear to abuse their power. Faculty members exercise inherent power over students in evaluation, making recommendations for future employment, and in conferring honors or other benefits on students.

Relations with Colleagues : Academic personnel recognize and respect the right of their associates to free inquiry and expression. Respect is given for the opinions of others while giving just credit to academic debts. Academic personnel strive to be fair and honest in their judgment of others. In addition, they work for the common good by accepting responsibility for governance of the university.

Specific Responsibilities

In addition to the aforementioned ethical considerations, the following specific responsibilities are required of all members of the FUE teaching staff:
• The description of course content provided to students in all University publications must accurately reflect actual course content. 
• Through the course syllabus, teachers clearly delineate course goals and inform students of evaluation systems. All evaluation systems must be fair and intellectually just. 
• Teachers plan effective use of class time and meet classes as scheduled.  
• Teachers maintain reasonable office hours to be available to students.  
• Teachers demonstrate respect for all students as individuals regardless of race, sex, national origin, religion, age or physical handicap. 
• Teachers exhibit respect for the academic freedom of students while striving to protect students from irrelevant or trivial interruptions or diversions. 
• Teachers respect the privacy of their students and do not release personal student information such as grades or exam scores. 
• All letters of recommendation for students shall be candid and fair. 
• Academic personnel will protect their personal right to freedom of inquiry and teaching as well as their colleagues’ right to the same freedoms. 
• Teachers must refrain from adverse personal comments about their colleagues as well as other courses or divisions in the university.  
• Constructive criticism of colleagues should be channeled in confidence to that person who has the power to correct the situation. Gossip and indiscriminate criticism are counterproductive and inappropriate. 
• Each member of the academic community has the right to criticise and seek to improve the regulations and policies of the university. Those seeking change must employ appropriate actions. Inappropriate actions include physical violence against members or guests of the university community; acts that violate freedom of speech, academic freedom or freedom of movement; and acts that result in destruction of university property. It is also inappropriate to advise others to commit such acts. 
• All academic persons will avoid any outside commitments that interfere with university duties in terms of time, energy and conflict of interest.  
• All faculty members will give timely notice (when possible) of interruption or termination of service to minimise the impact on instructional programmes. Before departing the faculty member will:
  
  1. Complete all classroom duties.
  2. Provide complete records of grades and evaluative data.
  3. Provide for incomplete class work. 
• All members of the teaching/academic community are responsible for reporting academic misconduct violations or suspected violations of ethical standards to an appropriate office. University policy prohibits retaliation against those who report infractions. Confirmed violations will result in appropriate disciplinary action. 

Research Responsibilities

As an obligation to the global scholarly community, the university must demonstrate integrity and honesty in all phases of its research activities. Everyone involved in a project must be treated respectfully. Research findings must be accurately recorded and transmitted. Appropriate credit must be given to the ideas and contributions of all participants, and authorship should be fairly assigned based on contributions.

In those cases where projects are funded through external sources, principal investigators must disclose to the appropriate dean and the president all financial interests that appear to be affected by the research. This extends as well to the spouse and children of the principal investigator. In addition, they must disclose their financial interest in any organization whose financial interests could appear to be affected by the research activity. Financial interest includes salaries, consulting fees, stocks, and intellectual property rights including patents, copyrights, and royalties. Principle investigators should regularly update their financial disclosures. In determining if a conflict of interest exists, the president will judge whether significant financial interest could influence the conduct of the research or the reporting of its results. In cases of conflict of interest, the president will impose conditions that reduce or eliminate the conflict.

Conflict of Interest/Commitment

The faculty and staff of FUE owe their primary professional allegiance to the university and are under obligation to avoid conflicts of commitment in fulfilling their university education, research, scholarship and service responsibilities. This regulation is intended to assist employees in avoiding those situations that compromise their primary responsibilities to FUE.

A conflict of commitment involves outside professional activities that create an actual or perceived conflict between the university mission and the individual’s outside activities. Full time employees owe their primary responsibility to fulfilling their professional obligations to FUE and are therefore expected to devote their primary time and effort to carrying out these obligations. A conflict occurs when outside professional activities interfere with obligations to FUE or when the appointees participates, on behalf of another organisation in activities that would ordinarily be performed on behalf of FUE.

A conflict of commitment exists when the employee’s external activities are so extensive in time and/or scope as to detract from that employee’s responsibilities to the university. The responsibilities include teaching, research, scholarship and service.

Policy: FUE full time academic appointees owe their primary commitment in time and intellectual energies to fulfilling their commitments to the university. The amount of time and level of commitment that constitute an appropriate primary commitment will vary and will be based on academic practice and/or written agreement between the faculty member and his/her department chair and/or dean.

Conflicts of commitment often involve time allocation. If the time allocated to an outside commitment exceeds permitted limits (usually an eight hour day per week or less) a conflict of commitment may exist.

Full-time professors and teaching assistants must disclose and discuss their external obligations with their department chairs and/or deans. If the activity cannot be managed while fulfilling obligations to FUE, the faculty member must refrain from the external activity. 

Examples: The following activities may constitute an actual or perceived conflict of commitment. The listing is by no means exhaustive and is intended to illustrate common example of such situations.
• Teaching at another university during a time when one has academic responsibilities at FUE.  
• Representing oneself as a faculty member of another institution. 
• Using one’s professional expertise during on-duty time to provide services that compete with services provided by FUE. 
• Participating in private enterprises that interfere with one’s education, research, scholarship or service responsibilities. 
• Conducting research through/for private entities which should be sponsored by FUE. 

Implementation: All academic appointees of FUE must disclose activities that may represent a conflict of commitment. All disclosure statements must be submitted in writing to the appropriate dean/department head. The dean/department head will review and respond to submitted statements within thirty days and will discuss with the appointee to determine if a conflict of commitment exists. If a conflict is determined to exist, steps must be taken to eliminate or properly manage that conflict. Administrative decisions will be presented in writing. If the appointee and administrator disagree, the appointee may appeal to a higher level administrator. Appeals regarding administrative decisions concerning conflict of commitment are subject to applicable university policies and procedures.

Faculty Evaluation and Faculty Development

The professional competence and the intellectual vigor of a university’s professors and teaching assistants are among the most important measures of its quality. In recognition of that fact, FUE supports the individual development of its professors and teaching assistants by encouraging and rewarding academic achievement in teaching, research, and all other facets of a faculty member’s professional life.

The maintenance of high quality faculty is the keystone of faculty development. FUE priorities and policies serve to:
• Recruit new faculty who are dedicated to excellence in teaching and research 
• Encourage Faculties to develop criteria for evaluating their professors and teaching assistants and to make those criteria transparent to them’ 
• Aid in integrating professors’ and teaching assistants’ career goals with Faculty and University objectives 
• Encourage professors and teaching assistants to strive continuously to improve 
• Recognise and reward high attainment in teaching, research and service 

In the evaluation process, it is the responsibility of the deans and department chairs to:
• Review each fulltime professor’s and each teaching assistant’s progress at least annually and discuss with each his or her strengths and weaknesses in teaching, including advising, in scholarly activity, in service, and in furthering the Faculty’s other objectives 
• Assist the professor or teaching assistant in formulating plans for his or her progress toward mutually-desirable professional objectives 
• Provide encouragement and advice concerning resources needed for pursuit of these objectives  

The faculty member himself or herself is expected to provide data for the evaluation process by supplying the dean or department chair with materials on his or her teaching, research, and service.

Annual performance reviews must be written and include face-to-face interaction. It is understood that professors can, and do, contribute differently to the multiple missions of the faculty at different stages in their careers. At times, it is important to expect achievement in multiple dimensions; at other points in a career, research may weigh more heavily; at other times, it may be more appropriate to acknowledge greater contributions to teaching and service.

Perceptions of fairness and equity are essential in any system of evaluation. If evaluations are perceived to be based not on performance but on prejudice, stereotyping, or other biases, this will affect the faculty’s ability to recruit and retain the very best talent available. If, over time, such inequities develop in a faculty, good leadership calls for their active correction.

Teaching Evaluation

Future University in Egypt strives for academic excellence and provides its students with a high quality education. To ensure a high quality education and teaching effectiveness, FUE’s faculties routinely conduct teaching evaluations of courses taught by full-time and part-time professors. Each faculty has the responsibility for developing its own particular system where both students and peers participate in the evaluation. Valid and meaningful evaluations of teaching effectiveness should be focused on student learning. If conducted rigorously, evaluations provide valuable information regarding areas for improvement. They also provide a basis for celebrating and rewarding effective teaching.

Before implementation, procedures and instruments for evaluating teaching must be approved by the president and the board of trustees chair advisors.

Guidelines for Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness

The procedures used by each faculty must safeguard the identity of students. Where evaluations are conducted in class, the evaluation should be administered by someone other than the instructor of the course. Procedures may also include mid-semester evaluations; these can be used to demonstrate changes in the course in response to feedback. Procedures should be designed to be clearly specific to each course. Course evaluation should also be designed to be reflective of student learning (and not confined to an evaluation of the instructors themselves).  

The following are recommended questions for an online survey where students respond: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree or strongly disagree.
• This course promoted high expectations of learning 
• This course promoted higher achievement and better quality work  
• The syllabus provided clear statements about how students would be graded 
• The syllabus provided clear statements to explain course requirements 
• I had the opportunity to provide the instructor with feedback at some midpoint during the course 
• The instructor’s choice of media (websites, visual files, illustrations, animations, text, video, audio) was appropriate for the content 
• This course provided a variety of means (different media, different types of assignments and activities) by which to learn the material  
• I understood the objectives behind the various assignments for the course 
• The grading procedures for this course were always clear to me  
• The assignments for this course covered important issues and not trivial information  
• The guidelines for completing assignments were clear and adequate 
• The assignments for this course helped me to understand the subject more thoroughly  
• The assignments in this course helped me to develop my problem-solving skills 
• The assignments in this course promoted creativity 
• The instructor encouraged a valuable level of cooperation and collaboration among the students in this course 
• The instructor had a good ability to explain the content of this course in ways that were clear and understandable 
• The instructor helped to keep discussion focused on relevant issues 
• The instructor helped to create and maintain a courteous and professional atmosphere in the discussions 
• The instructor for this course provided me with prompt feedback on my written work 
• The communication that I got from this instructor was thoughtful and personalized 
• The instructor conveyed enthusiasm for the course and subject matter  
• I was given guidance on additional materials and resources on the subject matter 
• I developed a solid sense of trust towards instructor 
• I felt encouraged to contact the instructor with any questions or concerns I might have about any aspect of this course  
• The assignments in this course helped me to develop my problem-solving skills  
• The assignments for this course helped me to understand the subject matter more thoroughly 
• This course helped to develop higher-level skills such as critical thinking  
• This course helped me to develop my communication skills  
• This course gave me a sense of control over my own learning  
• I could see how this course would help me in my career 
• This course provided me with enough of the foundational or basic knowledge—the specific information and ideas—that helped me to meet the appropriate learning goals for the course 
• In this course, I learned new ways of thinking and developed new skills that helped me to meet the learning goals for the course 
• What I learned in this course will help me to continue learning and with greater effectiveness 
• In this course, I was able to see and understand connections between different things—between ideas or people or different realms of life—that helped me to meet the appropriate learning goals 

The following open-ended questions can also be used to gain valuable information:
• What aspects of the course were effective? 
• What aspects need improvement? 
• What suggestions do you have for improvement? 
• Was this course intellectually stimulating? 
• What is your overall evaluation of this course? 
• What are your overall comments about the instructor?