Abstract

Academic dishonesty among students at colleges and universities has been a serious problem all over the world. Due to advances in information and communication technologies, particularly the Internet, the problem has become more severe in the past two decades. This is especially serious among undergraduate students. Very little research has been done in this field in Botswana and Zambia. This study was an attempt in this direction. This paper presents the findings of the study carried out with second year students at the University of Botswana and the University of Zambia. The main objectives of the research were to investigate students' attitudes toward academic dishonesty, frequency of cheating, cheating methods used, and motives for cheating in a local university context. To pursue the study a questionnaire survey was used. The results revealed that students had a high knowledge of various forms of academic dishonesty; and were of the opinion that academic dishonesty devalues academic qualifications. Academic dishonesty was widely practiced; yet, it was not adequately dealt with. The paper recommends that various stakeholders should collaborate to continually educate and discourage students from indulging in academic dishonesty