Ethical Scholarship

1. Ethical Scholarship From the perspective of University of Western Sydney students and Aspire Scholars: Roy Mariathas, currently studying Medicine Anaum Zahid, currently studying Business and Commerce Fabiola Fugazza currently studying Law/ Business and Commerce

2. Tell us briefly about an ethical dilemma related to your education…. Roy: “My ethical dilemma involves aspects of confidentiality and patient autonomy when it comes to meeting patients in hospitals. Meeting patients in hospitals requires us to place absolutely no pressure on them to be interviewed. Hence rather than directly ask them, a neutral party is sought to be a representative for the students so that the patient is placed in a situation to say no comfortably. With confidentiality, we are allowed to discuss cases without revealing any identity. If students find this to be troubling, we are simply asked to not speak about patient cases in the open. More importantly, discussion of cases within hospitals is kept under tight wraps so as to avoid disclosure of details by accident.” Fabi: “Within study of law especially, students are constantly reminded that academic misconduct can lead to non admittance upon application at the Bar. Thus an ethical dilemma is presented for most, in that while it is the intention of most students not to engage in misconduct such as collusion and plagiarism, it is often difficult and stressful to ensure one hasn’t commit acts of misconduct inadvertently as not all forms are blatant in nature, even though the consequences are costly. Thus there is a dilemma in ensuring that credit is always given where due, even for inspiration of ideas . This dilemma can be tough, especially where the line between sharing ideas or working together and collusion may be fine.” Anaum: “As a part of our Accounting Information for Managers unit at uni, we had a group project which involved the analytical review of a company' annual report. 5 companies were available and selection of them was randomby our tutors. My group got Blackmores Pty Ltd. Through the course of meetings for the assignment in the uni library, we came across other groups who had the same company. Their assigment was finished and they offered to give us the answers. Considering that there was a day left to go and more than half of the assignment was due to be completed, a key member dropped the unit and our group leader didn't know it was due the next day- the temptation was high. However, 2 out of 3 group members refused to take the answers and hence we did the assignment on our own.”

3. Without mentioning names, what do you think motivates students to breach ethical standards? Fabi: “I believe what motivates students to breach ethical standards is the temptation of being able to evade hard work and effort required to produce an original and high quality piece of academic writing and instead use the work of someone else which may be more insightful than what the student themselves can produce. With the pressure that may exist to pass or obtain high grades, often a lack of self confidence, a lack of preparation or sheer laziness can motivate someone to use the work of others in place of their own. The same motivations could also drive people to engage in collusion in the hope that more than one person working on a project will achieve a better result with less effort involved.” Anaum: “The fact that many students don’t believe their work is better than what they can find in books or the net, which may lead them to plagiarise. Another would be time limits- given the amount of time they have, plagiarism may seem like a better option than failing- should the marker not discover it. The most unacceptable motivator for breaching ethical standards can simply be laziness. Many students won't have any input in a group assignment and take credit for good marks, simply because they can’t be bothered, which is ethically wrong. Roy: “I think that where there is an opportunity to put oneself in a position of advantage there may lie motivation to breach ethical standards. For example, in regard to patient autonomy, when a student simply does not comply to the standards set by the clinical school, it is an obvious act to disregard the patient’s sense of freedom due to overriding desire for “more practise” or “better skills” for oneself. Similarly, confidentiality can be lost with the excitement of one “caught up in the moment” where revealing facts and details openly will promote your skill and clinical experience. Also where there exists inequality of opportunity between students those with lesser resources may seek to ‘fill the gap’ through acts of academic misconduct.”

4. What do you think most students draw on to establish their own ethical standards? Anaum: “Most of all, probably family values and religious values, but a big part of what a person’s ethical standards are depends on past experiences which form a persons outlook on life and how they deal with ethically challenging situations.” Roy: “Drawing on situations that are to arise, it will be a combination of these values taught to us at a scholarly level as well as collective influence of the relationships that we form up to that day which will influence how we react to situations of ethical dilemma.” Fabi: “I think students draw on their personal belief system to establish their own ethical standards. This personal belief system is derived from family values, religious beliefs, and the company which they hold, as well as the education they receive and the community which they are a member of.”