Student Perception of Ethics in Bangladesh, India, and the United States

Ethics is an important attribute that students must develop to succeed in their academic career and profession. To improve the ethics perception in students, it is essential to integrate ethics in the curriculum. A survey questionnaire was used to investigate the students’ perception of ethics in three different countries. The objective was to evaluate students’ perception of ethics using 5 factors: 1) the impact of education and faculty on ethics; 2) students’ attitude towards cheating; 3) the impact of technology; 4) the importance of ethics and 5) the ethical campus environment. A total of 138 responses were collected from 4 different universities in three countries. Analysis of the data showed how the student’s perception on ethics is relevant in shaping their own ethical behavior. Students’ perception on cheating showed that they tend to cheat less in colleges when compared to high schools. The faculty and educational services of the institutions also impacted the ethics perception of students. Students reported ethics to be important and they hold themselves to the same ethical perceptions to their peers. Initially this study made a hypothesis that there is no significant difference observed in ethical standards among students in Bangladesh, India & the USA. But later the analysis of the survey results showed certain difference in students’ perception of ethics in three different countries. The results proved the students of the United States to be more ethical compared to the other two countries. College students reported the environment to be more ethical due to higher ethical standards of the faculty.