Meeting of the Academic Integrity Support Group

Another meeting of the Academic Integrity Support Group was held, conducted in the format of an active discussion of current issues in modern strategic directions of academic integrity.

At the session, a presentation was delivered by Oksana Pukhalska, “Some remarks identified during the review of master’s theses regarding adherence to the principles of academic integrity”. She shared her experience of participating in a workshop on ensuring academic integrity in the process of writing master’s theses. Legislative mechanisms for ensuring academic integrity provide legal regulation, create systems of responsibility and transparency within educational institutions.

During the discussion, Prof. N. Terenda, Acting Head of the Department of Public Health and Health Care Management, proposed amendments to the regulations on the review of master’s theses, in particular the inclusion of a technical component for quality verification of plagiarism detection. This would rely solely on automated software checks without expert analysis by subject specialists, while the decision would be made exclusively on the basis of such automated results, supplemented by the conclusions of an expert commission. Clarifications regarding the existing “Regulation on the defense of master’s theses at Ternopil National Medical University named after I. Ya. Horbachevsky” were provided by V. Radchuk, Head of the Internal Quality Assurance Department of Higher Education.

The Head of the Academic Integrity Support Group, Prof. Stepan Vadziuk, emphasized the need to submit information on the results of discussions about compliance with academic integrity in the evaluation of qualification works for updating the “Regulations on the defense of master’s theses”.

Another presentation was delivered by Assoc. Prof. Oksana Sydorenko, a member of the Academic Integrity Support Group and curator of the Academic Integrity Promotion Project in Ukraine (SAIUP). Her report “Methodological recommendations for the transformation of various spheres of higher education institutions based on transparency and integrity (overview)” summarized the results of her participation in Kyiv in the grant project “Integrity in Education: From Recommendations to Action.” Ternopil National Medical University was the only medical university in Ukraine invited to participate, selected based on its reputation and achievements in promoting academic integrity. The strategic session paid considerable attention to effective anti-corruption activities, which, according to rating analysis, are implemented at TNMU in accordance with proper standards.

The meeting also hosted Assoc. Prof. Halyna Loi from the Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, who delivered a lecture “Academic Integrity and Krok-1” for medical students.

The Academic Integrity Support Group reviewed the main points discussed with students during the lecture, in particular the ways to prevent, detect, and respond to violations of academic integrity. Prior to the lecture, a survey was conducted among students on their attitude toward taking the “Krok-1” examination in compliance with proper academic integrity rules. The analysis of the results provided insight into the level of academic reliability among TNMU students.

The lecturer noted that the topic generated strong interest among the student audience, and the information regarding cases of integrity violations during “Krok-1” examinations was perceived positively in the current context.

The topic of the next meeting of the Academic Integrity Support Group was defined as: “Identification of Artificial Intelligence work by students.”