Peković: Responsibility and Dedication of Academic Community of the University of Montenegro have risen in Pandemics

The responsibility and commitment of members of the academic community - important features of academic integrity, became important especially after the interruption of direct teaching at the University of Montenegro and unforeseen circumstances caused by the COVID 19 virus pandemic, the Director of the Quality Assurance Centre of the University of Montenegro, Sanja Pekovic, PhD, said.

"During online classes, lectures were mostly conducted, with a part of the current tests for which safe and secure circumstances were established in order to respect academic integrity. Our teachers, associates and students have established a rich and functional digital communication, in which the Information System Center provided them with great help and constant support - very soon after the interruption of immediate teaching, which speaks of responsibility and commitment of members of the academic community as an important factor of academic integrity, “Director Pekovic said.

She points out that pandemic has only partially slowed down activities in the field of academic integrity, for which, in the past, the University received recognition from the International Institute for Research and Work to Prevent Dishonest Academic Behavior and Plagiarism at the University of Geneva (IRFPA).

Students were able to undergo training on academic integrity through previously created online courses, within the project "Strengthening Integrity and Fighting Corruption in Higher Education", jointly funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe through the regional program "Horizontal Mechanism for the Western Balkans and Turkey ".

"Through the project Strengthening Academic Integrity, which is supported by the Ministry of Science of Montenegro, research in this area has been initiated. So far, the project team has collected a large amount of data relevant to the assessments we need to define recommendations and guidelines for further improvement, “Director Pekovic said.

According to her, the project team participated in a large virtual international conference dedicated to plagiarism throughout Europe and beyond (6th International Conference Plagiarism across Europe and Beyond 2020), organized by the European Network for Academic Integrity. "Given that we have determined that pedagogical role of the university is very important for the preservation and improvement of academic integrity, i.e. that some concepts students must learn directly (e.g. academic writing), we are currently working on developing a model of learning outcomes in this area. In addition, the processing, discussion and interpretation of the results obtained through a very extensive questionnaire, which was filled out by close to 700 respondents, is underway, “Director Pekovic said. The Quality Assurance Centre also planned Quality Days, which were postponed for the fall due to the circumstances caused by the pandemic. "Quality Days will be aimed at promoting the quality of university activities in the broadest sense. We want to publicly express our fundamental commitment to excellence in science and teaching, “Director Pekovic announced.