Promoting and assessing integrity in the research degree

Although postgraduate research is increasingly supported through the formalisation of supervision and programs providing generic support, those programs have seldom addressed the intention, often stated by universities in their graduate profiles, that postgraduates should have integrity, and ethical values. What methodology is required – how will universities support students to cultivate such sensitivity, assess this, and fulfill the expectation? The paper provides evidence that quality statements including some aspect of integrity are used in many UK and Australian universities. The importance of integrity, or ethical behaviour more generally, in postgraduate degrees and in professional practice is confirmed by reference to Sandor Kopatsy’s model of intellectual capital, where knowledge, morality, talent and effort are multiplied together to determine the level of intellectual capital. The main section of the paper considers how assessment might be achieved and the desired qualities fostered. Three distinct forms of moral qualities or skills can be found among those identified by the universities – some refer to technical skills, some describe graduates sensitive to ethical and social issues and some talk of graduates committed to ethical action and social responsibility. The paper draws on the authors’ experience in Europe, Australia and Asia.