# It’s complicated: staff experiences of academic integrity at a Mauritian university

## TL;DR

This paper explores how academic integrity is understood and practiced by staff at a Mauritian university, emphasizing the need for a positive, values-driven approach.

## Contribution

The study highlights the experiences of non-teaching staff in academic integrity, offering new insights and recommendations for fostering integrity cultures.

## Key findings

- Academic integrity is seen as a complex, multidimensional concept involving all staff members.
- Non-teaching staff play a crucial role in understanding and implementing academic integrity.
- Building cultures of integrity requires more attention than focusing on misconduct.

## Abstract

Academic integrity is presented as a complex, multidimensional concept that involves all members of an educational institution. However, non-teaching staff members are often excluded from research on academic integrity. I engaged in professional support alongside academic staff to explore how academic integrity is understood within the Mauritius branch of a UK higher education institution.

I adopted a qualitative approach to engage those tasked with implementing academic integrity to examine how they understood and practised it. Data were gathered through face-to-face focus-group interviews, which were translated into themes.

This article identified the factors that make academic integrity challenging and presents recommendations for practitioners and researchers.

More energy should be invested in the processes that build cultures of integrity rather than focusing on the opposite, such as cheating, plagiarism, and misconduct. Academic integrity is ultimately a positive values-driven approach to learning and a skill that can be developed and strengthened.