Benefits
Higher education in 21st century has been crucial for developing career goals and giving people the opportunities to pursue their dreams in life, first of all, higher education enables an individual to be emancipated. In institutions, critical thinking is encouraged, and it’s something that makes people have a positive contribution to society. Economically, higher education provides a person with credentials that they can use to qualify for their dream jobs (Bowen, 2018).
Other than this, higher education promotes civic engagement as the people who have gone through such systems know the importance of increasing sustainability in the community. Gainful employment in the 21st century is accomplished using higher education credentials, alongside other forms of personal development such as achieving the American dream. While undertaking higher education classes, people interact with others from different calibers in academia. This emancipates their thinking and makes them more responsible, as it had made me. Better communication is also one of the benefits of going through higher education systems (Perna & Jones, 2013). The more someone learns, the better they become in communicating and solving contemporary issues in society.
Higher education offers a great sense of discipline. Research activities, promoting academic integrity, and fostering hard work among the students have contributed positively to instilling professional discipline. Also, higher education opens a person’s mind to ethical, and practical applications of acknowledging others in society. Because higher education credentials can be used to secure lucrative job opportunities, I believe that higher education also offers some sense of accomplishment for a person.
Reflection on Academic Integrity
Every student is being trained to be a socially responsible citizen out there. One of the basic training in higher learning institutions is academic integrity (Robinson & Glanzer, 2017). Honesty in examinations, avoiding copying assignments, and finishing them in the required time are critical elements of academic integrity. It is the utmost display of good academic conduct for academia. I believe that it is very important in institutions to promote honesty and avoid plagiarism at all costs. First of all, a student is supposed to submit original work. That is why for many projects, the declarations are used to show that the work summited therein is original, done by the student and has not been submitted in any other institution.
The role of academic integrity procedures not only allows hard work but it shapes the skills developed by the students through rigorous training on their work. I also believe that academic integrity regulations have helped contribute to student confidence for the work that they do.
Secondly, acknowledging any sources used his very important while doing any work in academia. Researchers have spent their time and resources to avail information that would contribute positively to academia. Using their information and not acknowledging them is plagiarism, something that should be avoided at all costs. Creating our ideas in coursework is very important. However, they need to be backed up with relevant sources of information. This is achieved through citation and referencing.
In the universities and colleges, education provision has been done on the basis of high-quality skills for people to fit in the real world. It is therefore worthwhile to note that integrity has been used by the institutions of higher learning to foster the exchange of ideas between researchers and the students. It requires that individuals should honour each other’s work in academia, and give due respect where possible. Personally, academic integrity stipulations have helped me to gain crucial skills of honesty, and respect for each other’s work. The same should be fostered for students in universities and colleges across the globe.
One of the major pillars of academic integrity is honesty and sincerity. It is followed by the trust for the people from whom the information is obtained. Fairness in academia goes hand in hand with trust for the academic programs that students are pursuing. University students should uphold these virtues to ensure that there is academic integrity. Even though respect for each other’s work needs to be upheld, I believe that the most crucial part of academic integrity programs is to focus on the good of the community. Any information used and obtained from the available sources needs to be handled responsibly and in the right manner.
Personal Experiences as a college Student
Furthering my education is crucial in the field. Currently, I am embarking on acquiring my degree in finance because it will help me to accomplish my dreams. I also believe that it will increase my confidence and chances of obtaining promotions in the workplace. My employment is in the government sector currently, and I aim to get promotions in due course. In such places, credentials are used to assess the job group and people are paid according to their level of education. Therefore, I need to have the right skills and education level for such promotions to come through. Pursuing the degree will help me achieve such a dream (Oreopoulos & Petronijevic, 2013).
Higher education has been crucial for my academic and professional growth. Currently, I am a Budget Analyst but my dream is to be a financial supervisor in the company. Job requirements for such a position are high. I believe that someday, the goal will be accomplished with the help I am obtaining in college. Attending college has also made me gain crucial skills of management, honesty and proper communication. All these are applicable in many professional fields, thus it will improve my level of interpersonal relations. Higher education learning helps to improve confidence even while being called for interviews, I believe that this value will be upheld and expressed for my career growth (Young et al., 2018).
Culpability for Academic Integrity
The two essential aspects of achieving this responsibility are by promoting honesty and respect for each other’s work. I believe that there is no need for cheating as the examiners are bound to test our level of understanding, after which we both the student and the examiner will know where to improve. Avoiding plagiarism can be achieved by services such as plag scan and Turnitin. First of all, I prompted culpability for the work I have done on many essays by using the Ashford writing center for getting the relevant sources for the work (Robinson & Glanzer, 2017).
I decided to maintain academic integrity by refereeing to the sources where I had obtained crucial information on the importance of higher education. Even though such information was related to my study area, I did not copy paste the information directly. I paraphrased the information to avoid any plagiarism. Also I used grammarly online services to look at any grammatical errors in the essay I wrote. Over time, the grammarly services provide information on how to develop high quality work. Coupled with honesty and the in text citations, I believe that I have adhered to most of the formulations for maintaining academic integrity.
Academic integrity is important for making sure that the community is developed via academia. This has been an important activity for me. It has taught me respect and honesty, virtues that I will apply in life to perform well in the workplace. The importance of maintaining academic integrity cannot be understated. It is crucial for all students to join me in promoting such activities, making sure that the work submitted is original and that respect and acknowledgements are given where due (McDade, 1987).
References
- Bowen, H. (2018). Investment in learning: The individual and social value of American higher education. Routledge.
- McDade, S. A. (1987). Higher Education Leadership: Enhancing Skills through Professional Development Programs. ASHE/ERIC Higher Education Report No. 5, 1987. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Reports, The George Washington University, One Dupont Circle, Suite 630, Dept. G4, Washington, DC 20036-1183.
- Oreopoulos, P., & Petronijevic, U. (2013). Making college worth it: A review of the returns to higher education. The Future of Children, 41-65.
- Perna, L. W., & Jones, A. (Eds.). (2013). The state of college access and completion: Improving college success for students from underrepresented groups. Routledge.
- Robinson, J. A., & Glanzer, P. L. (2017). Building a culture of academic integrity: What students perceive and need. College Student Journal, 51(2), 209-221.
- Young, R. L., Miller, G. N., & Barnhardt, C. L. (2018). From policies to principles: The effects of campus climate on academic integrity, a mixed methods study. Journal of Academic Ethics, 16(1), 1-17.
