A stunning academic ethics scandal erupted last week after two professors at National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology were accused of taking money from students to help search for thesis ghostwriters so that the students could obtain their master’s degrees.
As a result, a renewed, scathing conversation is taking place about the management and quality of in-service programs at universities and graduate schools, especially executive master of business administration (EMBA) programs. Incidents of academic ethics failures are rooted in in-service program instructors lacking awareness about their role as high-level management educators.
From my own observations over the years, many professors are easily cowed by EMBA students, as they generally hold privileged positions in society and the workplace, and educators are at a loss concerning what to do.
However, no matter how powerful an EMBA student is in the outside world, they are still just a student when they are on campus. They should not be allowed to simply throw their weight around and buy academic credentials.
As a self-aware educator of higher-level management, not only do I need to be able to respond to students’ challenges, but I also have to be able to defend my own professionalism. More than that, I also have to be able to give critiques on biased attitudes toward studying. Cultivation of this type of practice requires the consensus and support of academic professors. This approach also comes from what academic educational bodies call an “environment of learning.” This is the greatest challenge in-service master’s programs face within Taiwan’s higher education system.
Some might say it is not easy to run EMBA and in-service programs, and that competition is fierce. In actuality, these are just normal expectations — to aim high and try hard. Instructors involved in scandals such as this are a classic example of people lacking self-awareness as higher education management professionals. Despite in-service education being an important part of a university’s social responsibility in providing lifelong learning, if educators are unable to instruct their in-service students in word and by example, then they should not be teaching.
As for the lack of market demand for in-service programs, schools might want to consider winding down operations. If instructors are just in it for the money and cannot help their students attain the educational goals of their program, it erodes academic rigor and respect, and damages academic development.
Such deterioration could result in severe damage to the entire institution’s reputation.
If these programs fall back by even one step, they end up flat against a wall with nowhere to run. Higher-level management school educators have no choice but to be prudent and circumspect in their curricula and standards.
Lin Hsuan-chu is the executive director of the executive master of business administration program at National Cheng-Kung University’s School of Management.
Translated by Tim Smith
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