Part Two: Becoming a Student

Step Four: Understanding Policies

Academic Integrity

The ability of the NetTel@Africa Post Graduate Training Programme to achieve its mission and goals depends upon the quality and integrity of the academic work performed by faculty, staff and students. Ensuring the highest levels of quality and integrity among NetTel's scholastic community requires that all members recognize their rights and responsibilities in adhering to academic honesty in one's work, words, ideas, and actions. Following are several guidelines endorsed by NetTel that aim to preserve academic integrity. NetTel recognizes that each Home Institution may have more strict guidelines for academic integrity and it is expected that each student will know both NetTel's and her or his Home Institution's standards for acceptable academic behavior.

Quotations

Any quotations, however small, must be placed in quotation marks or clearly indented beyond the regular margin. Any quotation must be accompanied (either within the text or in a footnote) by a precise indication of the source -- identifying the author, title, place and date of publication (where relevant), and page numbers. Any sentence or phrase which is not the original work of the student must be acknowledged.

Paraphrasing

Any material paraphrased or summarized must also be specifically acknowledged in a footnote or in the text. A thorough rewording or rearrangement of an author's text does not relieve one of this responsibility. Occasionally, students maintain that they have read a source long before they wrote their papers and have unwittingly duplicated some of its phrases or ideas. This is not a valid excuse. The student is responsible for taking adequate notes so that debts of phrasing may be acknowledged where they are due.

Ideas and Facts

Any ideas or facts which are borrowed should be specifically acknowledged in a footnote or in the text, even if the idea or fact has been further elaborated by the student. Some ideas, facts, formulas, and other kinds of information which are widely known and considered to be in the "public domain" of common knowledge do not always require citation. The criteria for common knowledge vary among disciplines; students in doubt should consult a member of the faculty.

Footnotes and Bibliography

All the sources that have been consulted in the preparation of an essay or report should be listed in a bibliography, unless specific guidelines request that only works cited be so included.

Electronic and Other Sources

The requirement to acknowledge sources is not limited to printed material such as books or journal articles. Information is now readily available through many newer media, including text and images on the World Wide Web, CD-ROM, and electronic mail. Information or quotations from any of these sources must be properly cited; ask your course instructor for guidance on how to cite such sources. At a minimum, acknowledge any information, text or image from the World Wide Web by noting the name and author of the site (if available), the Internet address, and the date you accessed the site.

Note on Citations

If you have any questions about when and how to cite your sources, ask the course instructor. An important general rule is this: if you are unsure whether or not to acknowledge a source, always err on the side of caution and completeness by citing rather than not citing.

Plagiarism and Cheating

The following actions are considered to be violations of NetTel's standard for academic Integrity:

• Plagiarism
  The use of any outside source without proper acknowledgment. "Outside source" means any work, published or unpublished, by any person other than the student.
• Unauthorized Multiple Submission
  The failure to obtain prior written permission of the relevant instructors to submit any work that has been submitted in identical or similar form in fulfillment of any other academic requirement at any institution.
• False Citation
  The attribution to, or citation of, a source from which the material in question was not, in fact, obtained.
• False Data
  The submission of data that have been deliberately altered or contrived by the student or with the student's knowledge.

Grades and Credits

All final grades and credits for work accomplished by the student will be allocated by the student's Home Institution. In those cases where a course is taught by an instructor from another institution, one of two possible arrangements will be made:

• The instructor will act as an officiating adjunct faculty member of each student's Home Institution and be bound by each institution's rules regulating the submission of grades and credits; or,
• The local course facilitator at the Home Institution will act as the course's officiating instructor and be responsible for adhering to the rules regulating the submission of grades and credits.

Leaves of Absence

The policies affecting a student's Leave of Absence are set at the level of the Student's Home Institution.

Refunds

The policies affecting the distribution of Refunds are set at the level of the Student's Home Institution.

Transcripts and Records

All credit and grades for work accomplished by students enrolled in the NetTel Training Programme will be allocated by the students' Home Institution. Transcripts and Records for each student will be managed and administered by her or his Home Institution.