The Delphic ambiguity in academic integrity breaches of international students

Recent media and literature have focused on the high incidence of academic integrity breaches among international students. However, the studies that reached this conclusion primarily took place in the Americas, Oceania, or the Far East. Most of these studies also rely on students' voluntary self-reporting of academic dishonesty and generally have small sample sizes. Our study examines the UK context and investigates the occurrence of academic integrity violations within the international student group as compared to domestic students. The research examines a large sample of 12,066 student submissions, with 1406 individual breaches of academic integrity over a period of 3 years (2021-2023). These breaches are classified based on the intensity of the breach as negligence, malpractice, or misconduct. The findings indicate that international students are more likely to engage in malpractice as compared to negligence and misconduct. These findings provide the necessary data-backed information and insights for the co-construction of policies to uphold academic integrity in UK universities.