Chapter 3: An Overview of Academic Integrity and Academic Misconduct

It is important from the outset to establish that a focus on academic integrity is important if institutions are to develop students who are able to act ethically, not just during the period of enrolment, but also when they graduate and gain employment (Graves, 2008; Guerrero-Dib et al., 2020). The discussion in the literature surrounding GenAI use in higher education hardly ever occurs without reference to academic integrity. This is so because even though there is much uncertainty as to how GenAI will impact education generally, one fact is obvious – it has significant implications for academic integrity within the current system. Therefore, while governments and institutions determine the path to take regarding GenAI, issues of academic integrity will have to be addressed as part of this journey to GenAI implementation. Interestingly, even in a context where this was not the norm, GenAI use is focusing attention on academic integrity, and therefore advancing. This chapter provides an overview of academic integrity and misconduct, as these are critical to GenAI integration in higher education.