Mohamed Nagib Abou-Zeid Honored for Academic Integrity Expertise, Leadership

After delivering a series of lectures on academic integrity, Mohamed Nagib Abou-Zeid, professor of construction engineering and chair of the University Senate, has been honored by the President of Al Akhawayn University in Morocco.

With a large turnout from the Al Akhawayn University community, Abou-Zeid’s lectures focused on the history of academic integrity in recent years in the Middle East and North Africa region. He also led discussions about defining academic integrity, differentiating between integrity and honesty, increasing awareness of academic integrity on campus, examples of violations of integrity, addressing dishonesty and integrity issues as a bystander, punishment vs. encouragement in addressing academic integrity issues, and institutional integrity. He also encouraged participants to develop an action plan for improving academic integrity on Al Akhwayn’s campus.

For more than 15 years, Abou-Zeid has worked tirelessly and passionately on issues surrounding academic integrity in higher education. He is a board member of Egypt's first National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Education (NAQAAE) and former chair of the board, as well as the first non-North American member of the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI). At AUC, Abou-Zeid has contributed greatly to the University’s Code of Ethics, to which all faculty, staff and students pledge. He was also one of the initial members of the University’s task force on academic integrity, which was founded in 2002.

Reflecting on AUC’s leading regional role in issues surrounding academic integrity, Abou Zeid noted that “academic integrity is a challenge for each institution globally because of the abundance of information and high competitiveness of societies and communities, which sometimes tempt people to violate academic integrity codes. AUC started its campaign in 2002, and we are proud to be the first University in Egypt and the region to have an academic code of ethics to which the entire community pledges.”

For more information on Abou-Zeid's lectures at Al Akhawayn University, click here.