Ethical Principles

The university is a special institution contributing to the district, city and country in which it is located and in the global sense to the world as a whole. This contribution is realized by producing knowledge and spreading it via education. This contribution, intended for social development, holds all constituents of the university (instructors, administrative staff, and students) responsible in terms of academic integrity and general ethics. Every violation of these values is a blow against the concept of a university. By establishing this understanding as the starting point, we can specify the major violations of integrity as:

• Cheating during exams.
• Using information that has been taken from internet or another written source on an assignment or exam paper without citing any sources.
• Pretending to have read texts without having done so.
• Preparing an assignment using other students’ materials.
• Having someone else prepare an assignment or preparing an assignment for someone else.

Like every serious academic unit, our department takes academic integrity violations seriously and applies primarily the enforcements listed below:

1. Students who cheat on an exam or an assignment or who plagiarize will get a grade of F for that course.
2. In the case of cheating or plagiarism, the student will be reported to the Disciplinary Committee.

Further violations will be evaluated within the framework of Board of Higher Education student disciplinary regulations and the rules that have been accepted by Boğaziçi University Ethics Commission.

However, along with all principles of integrity and general ethics-oriented enforcements and punishments, we should assume it as our duty to know that these violations upset the understanding that makes up a university and its members while dissolving it like a corrosive acid. Whether a student or a lecturer, during his/her education, a member of a university obtains knowledge via critical, analytical, and creative work and strives to contribute new knowledge. Every exam, assignment, report, presentation, thesis, etc. to be produced should bear the unique contribution of the individual. Every source that will be used in the name of that unique contribution should be cited. Thus, the labor of previous researchers will be paid due respect and a continuing tradition will be developed. In consequence, each member of a university, whether a student or a lecturer, should pay attention not to violate academic integrity principles and to prevent the violations of these principles.