Manifesto for academic integrity in teaching and learning

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, as a leading online university, is committed to academic integrity based on shared trust and responsibility. In a digital environment, we see this as a condition of quality: the commitment of the entire university community to honest and rigorous learning and assessment, rather than a set of control measures.

Academic integrity is a fundamental pillar to ensure high-quality university education and a trusting relationship between students and teaching staff at the UOC.

In a virtual training environment, academic integrity is built through rigorous and committed teaching, delivered in learning environments that foster responsibility and trust between teaching staff and students, and where assessment practices value the learning process and provide a faithful reflection of the competences acquired. Recognizing the rigour of our educational model, the professionalism of our teaching staff and students' commitment to their learning is essential to strengthen our institutional reputation and increase confidence in our degrees among society and the labour market, thereby consolidating the UOC's position as an international benchmark for quality.

However, strengthening academic integrity is a complex challenge and, for this reason, the UOC proposes that it be addressed through the commitment and active participation of the entire university community. This means encouraging teaching staff and students to share responsibility for upholding this culture, to act consistently with the values and institutional framework that guide the learning process, and to promote a university culture based on responsibility, honesty and trust.

To this end, the UOC has established an academic integrity model that encompasses a broad range of mechanisms related to:

the institutional framework, which defines the institutional commitment and the ethical and legal standards that constitute the reference framework for academic integrity at the UOC.
learning about integrity, which aims to ensure that teaching staff and students have the knowledge and competences needed to act in accordance with the institutional framework.
governance, which comprises the university's principles, procedures and mechanisms to define the institutional framework, ensure that it is implemented, monitored and evaluated, and resolve any conflicts that may arise.
technological infrastructure, which encompasses the tools and applications needed to support learning with integrity and safeguard students' authorship and identity in assessment activities.
quality assurance of the institutional framework for academic integrity at the UOC, through mechanisms that allow it to be supervised, checked and improved.

These mechanisms, structured around a culture of trust, must adapt flexibly and dynamically to the circumstances of each classroom and programme, as well as across the university as a whole. The aim is to promote the changes needed to strike new balances that will contribute to the creation of learning environments and enable progress towards a university culture that fosters integrity across the university.

Generative artificial intelligence is transforming the conditions of teaching, learning and assessment. The UOC promotes the responsible, critical and transparent use of this technology and supports students and teaching staff in developing the judgement required to decide when and how to use it in a way that is consistent with the learning objectives and the conditions of each assessed activity. The university is committed to ensuring the conditions that make integrity possible: clear and accessible rules, teaching and assessment design that promotes integrity, training and support for teaching staff, including faculty, course instructors and tutors, as well as appropriate tools and fair procedures. This responsibility is reciprocal.

In the online model, integrity in assessment rests first and foremost on the design of authentic and continuous assessment and on trust, rather than on generalized supervision. Safeguarding students' authorship and identity is also a matter of equity and rights. Where verification measures are required, the university will regulate and apply them with due regard for students' privacy, within its academic integrity governance framework.

This manifesto represents the UOC's commitment to integrity in teaching and learning and complements other commitments adopted by the university to strengthen integrity, especially the UOC Code for Research Integrity. The UOC regards this manifesto as a living commitment that will be reviewed periodically in light of evidence and technological and social developments to ensure that it remains relevant.