The University of Guyana has taken note of a recent Letter to the Editor published in a local newspaper by someone whose name matches a student who had last been enrolled in 2008. The letter includes a number of generalisations and inaccurate claims, which might mislead the general public as well as present and future students. As such, the following clarifications are offered:
- Policies: The University of Guyana staff and students must adhere to the following policies to ensure academic integrity:
- Plagiarism Policy https://uog.edu.gy/sites/default/files/documents/Plagiarism%20Policy.pdf
- AI Policy, and examination policies.
- Applications: The applications, which are available to staff and students in adhering to these policies include:
- Turnitin- (b) Examsoft (c) IProctor (d) Also, there are particular security settings on the University’s Online Learning management platform for those taking online courses.
- Turnitin: Turnitin is an academic integrity tool used in secondary and tertiary institutions nationally, regionally, and globally as a plagiarism deterrent.
- Training: Training for all of these as well as Turnitin is conducted on a continuous basis for both staff and students through the University of Guyana’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CoETAL), the Learning Resources Centres of the University of Guyana’s Libraries, The Education Online Support Services (EDOSS) Unit of the Tactical Online Services Unit (TOS) and also by each Faculty during Orientations.
- Online Resources: Further, these resources are available online for quick review at all times at (https://www.turnitin.com/resources/workshops/).
- Fairness and Due Process: It is regrettable that neither the letter writer nor the newspaper followed a fair process by reaching out to the University before publishing such a problematic piece. While no system is 100% accurate and can guarantee compliance by everyone, it is regrettable that the issue, which could have been a true individual breach of the University’s policies and practices, was amplified as a general problem.
The University wishes to assure its stakeholders and the general public that while every system can be perfected, every attempt at ensuring the resources, training, and adherence to the systems to support academic fairness and integrity are supported and implemented.
CONTACT UG
In the interest of fairness and academic integrity, the University urges persons with queries and or complaints to contact the University at fixug@uog.edu.gy and decc@uog.edu.gy and publicity.decc@uog.edu.gy
