Ternopil State Medical University Students developed a project within the framework of promoting academic integrity
On September 16-18 Ternopil State Medical University held a three-day training seminar for the students and faculty within the framework of promoting academic integrity in Ukraine. The event was organized jointly with the representatives of the Active Citizens program (British Council in Ukraine). The event was held simultaneously in 10 universities participating in SAIUP with the help from local facilitators from the British Council. Among the Ukrainian universities participating in the event were Taras Shevchenko National University, Kharkiv National University, Sumy State University, Zaporizhzhya National University, Ternopil National Economic University, Lutsk National Technical University, Donetsk National University, Odessa National University, Izmail State University for Humanities, and Ternopil State Medical University.
The purpose of the seminar was to facilitate formation of students and faculty teams to develop and disseminate policy of academic integrity on university campuses; to develop skills in project development and grant writing to implement the integrity initiatives in universities. Seminar participants had a chance to immediately apply their newly acquired skills in competition for mini-grants to implement projects of students and faculty academic integrity for the university. Grant winners will be announced on October 3, 2016, and implementation is planned for October-December 2016.
Marta Tomakhiv, facilitator of the seminar and representative of the program Active Citizens, said: “I am a member of the scout organization Plast, which is a partner of the British Council in this project. Two years ago, I worked in the Department of English at Ternopil State Medical University, so I am especially pleased to be back. Now I am enrolled in graduate school and do research, but still miss students and colleagues. Today my goal is to teach young people to become active citizens and to take social responsibility for what is happening around them. We are talking about active citizenship in the academic environment. This includes integrity and why it becomes important when expressing one’s position. Students participating in the training today will be ready to assume responsibility. I hope that they will develop their own project and win funding for its implementation. ”
Fourth year student of themedical faculty and student coordinator of the project in Ternopil State Medical University Iryna Pidhayna said her team will work hard during these days to develop their idea and to write a mini-project. The students will then try to win the grant funds to implement their project.
Ternopil State Medical University is one of ten Ukrainian institutions of higher education participating in the project promoting integrity (Strengthening Academic Integrity in Ukraine Project – SAIUP). The project is implemented by the American Councils for International Education in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the US Embassy. Its relevance is underscored the fact that the new law “On education” laid out the foundations for autonomy of the universities, while additional legislation allowed universities to implement academic, financial and personnel autonomy. This is the best time to combine the introduction of university autonomy with the development of academic integrity in Ukrainian universities.