Mandatory Reading

 

Table of contents

 

Introduction

1. Code of Ethics for students: core values

2. Student responsibility towards the members of the Development Center

3. Student responsibility towards the Development Center itself

 

Sources

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The Code of Student Conduct has been formulated to provide a clear statement of the company’s expectations of students in respect of academic matters and personal behavior.

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It addresses the interdependent duties, rights, and responsibilities of instructors and educational partners. Moreover, it seeks to encourage continued reflection and thoughtful response to ethical issues. It does not seek definitive answers to all ethical questions or situations. Rather, it seeks to outline the guiding principles to ethical conduct and to identify major issues.

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1. Code of Ethics for students – Core values

This section aims to presents broad values and ethical principles, based on our analysis of 10 ethical codes from different universities all around the world. Indeed, we noticed that even if Codes of Ethics for students may differ from an institution to another, there are 7 values that seem universal.

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Integrity

Integrity is defined as, “Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.”Having integrity means being totally honest and truthful in every part of your life. By making the commitment to become a totally honest person, you will be doing more to ensure your success and happiness in life than anything else you can ever do.

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Students with integrity will work hard to earn their degrees in a fair and honest way by putting in the hours to study and complete assignments. When a student intentionally cheats through university, this integrity is compromised and the value of the degree and the morals of the individual are diminished. This lack of credibility then follows you into the workforce and can impact your professional goals. Nobody wants a doctor who cheated to get his medical degree to perform a life or death surgery on them or a bad engineer to build bridges.

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Research shows, that most of the universities had an academic warning on their website concerning the importance of integrity. For example, Arizona State University says « If a student violates both the academic integrity provision and additional provisions of the Student Code of Conduct, both the college and the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities will review the matter ».

In fact, many studies have found that people who engage in academically dishonest practices in school are significantly more likely to be dishonest, cheat, or even commit crimes like fraud or stealing in the workplace.

 

Respect

Respect could be defined as « a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way. ». Being respectful of people is a key aspect of life in order to form and maintain positive relationships in order to become successful. If you treat them with kindness, they will be kind back. One way to show respect towards other people to treat others the way you would want to be treated.

 

Open-mindedness

Being open-minded means you have a willingness to listen to other ideas and opinions and consider the possibility that you are wrong or may change your own perspective.

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Open-mindedness can advance mutual understanding, which accommodates the idea of students working constructively and cohesively toward achieving common goals, despite intense disagreement.

 

Discipline

The word “Discipline” comes from the word “Disciple” meaning a learner. Discipline means tearing to obey certain rules. Without it, there will be complete chaos and disorder everywhere in our society. There are some rules that control our activities. If we do not respect these rules, our life will be like a boat without the boatman.

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The ability of an individual to have self-restraint allows them to behave in a consistently stringent and controlled manner. A lack of this ability can have disastrous results. Do you think a company is going to tolerate a person who is consistently late to work or who procrastinates in doing their work? It is evident how these behaviors will weaken the image of a business.

 

Tolerance

Tolerance can be seen as the willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own. Tolerance means how to see the world from the perspective of others, not just your perspective.

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Tolerance plays an important role in our everyday life in our society. Never before have we had so many opportunities to connect and communicate with different cultures and languages.

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Our society has become increasingly multicultural, enriched by the aspirations of migrants, transnationals, displaced peoples,… Tensions arising from religious, cultural and linguistic differences are increasing, but tolerance an effective and sustainable way of ensuring our young people understand diversity and that’s why this value is so present in codes of ethical student conduct.

 

Team spirit

Team spirit can be defined as when the members of a group want the team to succeed. Team spirit improves the ability of individuals to work together and boosts morale.

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In an academic context, this is an opportunity to make friends and talk with others. Each student can benefit on a personal level from teamwork. A team of students must actively listen to each other, articulate ideas and use genuinely constructive criticism to be effective.

 

Sense of responsibility

Responsibility is one of the traits of our character which means that a person is able to respond for his actions, is able to take some duties and to face certain consequences of the actions that may occur.

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People are not born with a sense of responsibility, it is something every person should cultivate in themselves, it should become a part of one’s personality. Responsible people can be trusted, and this benefits both the person and the people counting on the responsible person.

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All these values are the reason why an Ethical Code of Conduct is relevant for any academic institution. To make sure that every student is aware of what he can and what he cannot do, Students are expected to adhere to and practice the Code of Ethics on an academic level. The following parts aim to summarize how the values we talked about are represented inside every student code.

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1. Student responsibilities towards the members of the Development Center

The code of ethical students defines the rights and students’ responsibilities. These rights and responsibilities are at the root of the relationship between members of the community, and students. It has been formulated to provide a clear statement of the University’s expectations of students in respect of academic matters and personal behavior. Students have responsibilities towards professors, university employees, and other students.

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To establish a perfect harmony between teachers and students the University should recognize and value the diversity of student experiences and expectations, and is committed to treating students, both academically and personally, in a fair and transparent manner. All students, in return, are required to comply with the requirements set down in this Code of Conduct. This is how the code adapts to the diversity of students.

 

Responsibilities Towards Instructors

In China, professors enjoy the highest social status. Next are Greece, Turkey, and South Korea among countries where students have the highest respect for their professors in a ranking conducted in 2013 by the Varkey GEMS Foundation, an international educational foundation. France occupies a median position according to this survey conducted with 1000 adults in each of the 21 countries studied.

This study reveals cultural differences in how the role of Professor is perceived by Students, says Professor Dolton, Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex and Dean of Research at the Center for Economic Performance of the School of Economics in London. It includes some results that may seem unexpected: Finland, often perceived as a model of high-quality recruitment and high-status teachers, is in the second half of the rankings, in 13th place, along with Germany (16th) and Japan (17th) among the lowest ranked countries.

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In order to establish a perfect cohesion within the development center, students have obligations towards their professors. The same rules are found in most university codes of conduct.

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Meet Deadlines

It is important that students return their assignments on time so that the teacher respects his program and does not penalize other students.

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Do Not Be Late

Punctuality is a principle that is generally written into the rules of the Codes. However, there are differences in the perception of punctuality between countries due to the difference in cultures.

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If you are running late or having issues logging into the virtual classroom you need to notify the instructor as soon as possible.  Any notification more than 15 minutes after the start of class will be considered a no call/ no show. More than 3 no call/ no shows in a 6 month period will be cause for disciplinary action. 

 

There are countries that have a rigorous time management approach, such as in Germany, Scandinavia, the United States, or Great Britain.

 

Conversely, if you live in France or in the north of Italy arriving six or seven minutes late is still “basically to the hour.

 

There are also countries belong to a culture that has a flexible conception of time, as is the case in the Middle East, Africa, India or South America, the weather may have a completely different elasticity for you.

 

This explains why some professors are more tolerant about delays.

 

Responsibilities towards other students

The notions of civism, respect and, even more, politeness may seem obsolete and even archaic in our time when individualism sometimes makes us forget the existence of others. Collaboration, mutual aid and harmonious relations are very important values that students should share.

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Do not steal the colleagues’ material

Universities provide severe penalties for theft. However, most Western universities are clearing themselves from the responsibility of theft. On the other side, in Gulf States Universities, thefts are severely punished and security cameras are set up. We can suppose that there is a link with the strong influence of the Moslem religion which represses strongly any type of theft. Besides the fact that the thefts are incivilities, they are punished legally.

 

Fraud and plagiarism on other Students

The code of ethical students has regulations in place governing fraud and plagiarism. Students who have committed serious fraud may have their enrollment terminated and be no longer allowed to finish their study program. There are programs that allow checking for plagiarism on other Students.

 

Discrimination

Companies are increasingly providing sanctions for discrimination. Discrimination occurs when there is a difference in treatment between persons that are not justified by a legitimate motive.

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Matai does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. An employee/student discriminating against another person on the job or during the learning process may face disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

 

Responsibilities towards University employees

All codes generally state that employees must be respected.

Students have to treat all employees, honorary appointees, consultants, contractors, volunteers any other members of the public and other students with respect, dignity, impartiality, courtesy, and sensitivity to maintain a cooperative and collaborative approach to inter-personal relationships. They have to act honestly and ethically in their dealings with company employees, honorary appointees, consultants, contractors, volunteers, any other members of the public and other students and respect the privacy of employees, honorary appointees, consultants, contractors, volunteers any other members of the public and other students.

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Student responsibilities towards the Development Center itself

We have seen in the previous section that students have certain responsibilities to have towards teachers, students in general, but also all supervisory or maintenance staff. It turns out that students also have responsibilities regarding the development center itself. By this is meant behaviors to be held within the institution and when the student is brought to represent his company outside he has responsibilities outside the institution.

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Within the institution

As we said, there are first of all codes to respect within the educational institution itself. Most of the time these codes are mentioned in a charter or bylaws, but sometimes these codes, which may be cultural, are presumed to be acquired.

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Make sure you respect the dress code

It is best to have a suitable outfit, appropriate to an educational institution. That is to say, the dress code of the student must meet the criteria of decency. According to the Larousse dictionary, decency is “what should be done or said in a society”, it is a living knowledge.

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In another way, some clothes are strictly prohibited and quoted in ethical codes. This relates clothing that does not cover the trunk or that contains insults, racist, sexist statements are prohibited.

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In some parts of an establishment a dress code may be imposed or strictly prohibited. This is particularly the case in the shop. This is a health and safety issue for students.

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Do not degrade the premises

In terms of ethical code, students have a duty to respect the local and the entire public domain. By this is meant not to degrade the premises, not to steal the property of the public property etc … The acts of deterioration or deterioration made to the furniture, to the buildings are generally sanctioned by the training for its author of the refund of restoration costs.

The institution in which the student evolves is, therefore, a property of the public, collective domain that must be protected and maintained in the state. For this it is asked to the students a certain cleanliness. That is to say, do not throw trash elsewhere than in a trash can provided for this purpose.

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Do not eat in places where it is advisable not to do so

For reasons of hygiene, cleanliness, and safety (for allergies) it is forbidden to eat in certain places where this prohibition is posted, as is the case in some classrooms.

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No smoking in the establishment

There are collective places, mostly public, so smoking could harm the health of people sharing this place. Smoking is not allowed on company property or job sites.  This is not negotiable.

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Do not post posters where it is forbidden

For any display on the walls of the office and development center requires prior agreement and some places are prohibited display. Students have a duty to respect that.

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Use of computer tools and laboratories appropriately

There will be times when students are brought in to use the computer equipment of the development center and sometimes, depending on the curriculum, the shop equipment. When using these materials, there may be excesses, such as illegally downloading a movie, music from a company computer, hacking someone’s account, and so on. Students must sign a charter and commit to respecting it in order to use computer equipment or the shop. By this charter the student agrees to have a correct and ethical use of tools available.

 

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SOURCES

New York University, Code of ethical conduct, available on https://www.nyu.edu/about/policies-guidelines-compliance/policies-and-guidelines/code-of-ethical-conduct.html

Indian Institute of Science, Students code of conduct, available on http://www.iisc.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/iisc_students-code-of-conduct.pdf

University of Ontario, Student code of ethics, available on http://www.engineering.uoit.ca/undergraduate/student-support-services/student-policies/student-code-of-ethics.php

University of Sydney, Code of conducts for student, available on http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2011%2F215&RendNum=0

Université Lumière Lyon 2, Règlement intérieur de l’Université Lumière Lyon 2, available on https://www.univ-lyon2.fr/universite/gouvernance/reglement-interieur-de-l-universite-lumiere-lyon-2-459837.kjsp?RH=Gouvernance

Université de Montreal, Code éthique, available on https://ethiqueclinique.umontreal.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/code_ethique.pdf

Université Laval, Code éthique de la faculté des sciences de l’administration, available on www4.fsa.ulaval.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Codedethique2010-10.pdf

University of Western Australia, UWA Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct, available on http://www.hr.uwa.edu.au/policies/policies/conduct/code

University of Iceland, Code of ethics, available on http://english.hi.is/university/code_ethics

University of Westminster, Student code of conduct, available on https://www.westminster.ac.uk/study/current-students/resources/student-code-of-conduct

German educational research association, Code of ethics of DGfE, available on http://www.dgfe.de/en/service/code-of-ethics.html

Elite daily, Why discipline is so important, available on https://www.elitedaily.com/life/why-discipline-is-so-important

Studyrama, Discrimination à l’université, available on http://www.studyrama.com/vie-etudiante/se-defendre-vos-droits/discrimination-a-l-universite

Digischool, Dans quels pays les enseignants sont-ils les plus respectés ?, available on https://www.digischool.fr/vie-etudiante/enseignement/plus-haut-degre-respect-enseignants-chinois-17711.html

Tarjamati, Conditions et règlement d’acceptation : Universités saoudiennes, available on http://www.tarjamati.fr/conditions-reglement-dacceptation-universites-saoudiennes/

Pursuit, Teaching Tolerance : The role of Australian schools. https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/teaching-tolerance-the-role-of-australian-schools