State of research ethics compliance in Nepal's higher education institutions

Abstract

Executive Summary: Education creates new knowledge and skills necessary for a society’s advancement and transformation by transmitting cultural heritage from one generation to the next and adding innovation to traditional knowledge. The transfer of knowledge and skills takes place tacitly as well as explicitly. The modern education system, symbolized by schools, universities and academies, has evolved to generate and impart knowledge and skills explicitly. This evolution draws as much on the reflections of the past (of traditional education) as on the needs of the present and challenges of the future. While the ancient/traditional system centred around moral education (drawing on traditional customs and religion), at the heart of the modern education system is innovation, which is triggered by the fusion of science and technology under the aegis of educational institutions, primarily universities. Innovation requires new knowledge generated through research that maintains a high degree of academic integrity, a state characterized by a research process that is ‘morally’ or ‘ethically’ right and ‘scientifically’ robust. While a research study sound in academic integrity is believed to produce credible knowledge, a study that compromises academic integrity is doubted to be reliable. Innovative knowledge helps build the human capital that serves as the principal determinant of growth and prosperity. The human resources that are informed of overall sociopolitical contexts and issues and market dynamics are the human capital on which the foundation of economic development rests. Such human resources also serve as a trigger for innovation. How Nepal’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) fare in terms of innovative knowledge generation is a matter of public concern. As the centre of research and excellence, they are expected to have an enabling environment. If they are found wanting, they should create one. The research study was undertaken with this curiosity and expectation by situating research practices of HEIs in the history of Nepal’s higher education and the institutional and normative arrangements that have been developed over the decades.