Academic Integrity in Nepal

The moral education that broadly includes ethics, spirituality, and humanism has a long history in Nepal. Teaching moral education to young children started in the ancient Gumba, Vihar, and Gurukul education system. The current formal modern education system, established in 1854, includes moral education at the elementary and secondary levels. Though the concept of integrity extends beyond morality, there is a complementary interrelation between the fundamental values of integrity and morality. Neither might be new concepts for those who have attended basic formal education in Nepal. The concept of academic integrity is fairly new even though people in higher education are enthusiastic to learn and practice it. Breaches of academic integrity are called academic misconduct. Application of different strategies in exam cheating, high-profile involvement in plagiarism, university authorities’ participation in contract cheating, along with fake degree and fraudulent credentials for PhDs, are among the most highlighted types of academic misconduct in Nepal. However, the policy formulation and policy dialogue to develop integrity and ethics competencies has a long history in Nepal. The research priority has also changed. Researchers started to focus on the practices of integrity in different sectors – public service, teaching and learning, educational leadership, film, and research studies. This chapter presents an evidence-based overview of academic integrity in Nepal. The chapter includes evidence and examples from the 1950s to the 2020s inclusively.