ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: GENDER WISE TENDENCY IN MIRPUR, AJ&K

Academic integrity is important and critical for improving the quality and prestige of institutions worldwide. This study attempts to explore gender-wise tendencies in academic integrity among undergraduates in Mirpur, AJ&K. In this quantitative study, A descriptive research design is used. Pilot testing is conducted to ensure the validity and reliability of research instrument. The collected data is subjected to reliability test and the value of Cronbach’s Alpha is .804. Researcher handed questionnaires to 502 undergraduates from two affiliated colleges and Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST). The data was collected and analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings shows that plagiarism and prior cheating behavior exhibits a statistically significant gender variation, whereas other behaviors such as cheating in examination, falsification, receiving outside assistance, and lying about academic assignments is not significant. The result indicate that gender can affect certain types of academic dishonesty but not academic integrity in general. The findings highlight the lack of awareness about integrity policies and emphasized on prompting educators and policy-makers to contrive effective strategies that promote academic integrity.