Student Ethics Code describes the ethical values of the students of Bau International University, Batumi, the rules related to the general behavior of students at the university and the organization of the educational process, the cases of unethical - impermissible behavior are defined, and the procedures for eliminating violations of ethical norms and responding to violations are established. Compliance with the norms of the Code is mandatory for all students of the university. Compliance with the norms of the code is mandatory during the educational process, on the territory of the university or in a partner clinical institution, as well as during participation in the events organized by the university. Non-fulfilment of the requirements of the Code leads to the responsibility defined by this Code and the legal acts of the University. Disciplinary responsibility of the student can be raised only for the misconduct defined exhaustively by the Code. All students of the university are entitled to equally enjoy the rights granted to them by the legislation of Georgia, the regulations of the University, this code and other regulatory acts of the university.
The universal ethical values of a Bau student are:
Conscientiousness - which means carrying out one's own educational process in accordance with the requirements of the educational program, personally, using appropriate time, resources, attention and care;
Awareness - which means having, understanding and objectively interpreting information related to the student's status, rights and obligations, as well as the requirements of the educational program;
Professionalism - which means fulfilling the requirements established by the educational program in the process of practical and clinical teaching;
Academic honesty - which refers to the objectivity of the assessment of learning results and self-assessment, the inadmissibility of violating the rules of the organization of the educational process, putting pressure on the evaluator or other persons or any other influence in order to get a better assessment.
Recognition of the principle of pluralism of ideas - which means the obligation to respect the reasoned refusal of others to share the given idea, as well as the right of the teaching staff - to lead the training course within the framework of the theory with relevant scientific validity.
Respect for the organization - which means not allowing students, colleagues, members of the university community or other persons to make positive or negative comparisons of the university, its staff and students with relevant members of other higher education institutions and vice versa, as well as refraining from spreading such false and unverified information that may cast a shadow on the university, its staff or its students and graduates.
Protection of the professional scope of communication - which means communication with the teaching staff of the university and persons employed at the university - in a format appropriate for the academic environment, transfer to a friendly and/or inappropriate format for the academic environment, outside the university campus, and/or inadmissibility of communication through social networks.
Maintaining objectivity - which means perceiving one's evaluation objectively and expressing the impact to get a higher evaluation, except for the reasoned appeal methods provided by the legal acts of the university.
Adherence to the universal rules of research integrity - which means the use of appropriate rules of recognition of authorship, citation rules, data processing with appropriate research methods and information presentation in the educational process and/or in the student's research activities carried out on behalf of the university.
Protecting the rights and best interests of the patient - which means the unwavering protection of the rights defined by the patient legislation, including informed consent, acting in accordance with the best interests of the patient, safety, and personal data protection principles by the student who is in contact with the patient within the educational process.
Neutrality - which means refraining from political propaganda, religious proselytism, individual philosophical beliefs at the university or in association with the university;
Respect for the universal human rights and freedoms - acting according to the values established in a democratic society, recognizing the primacy of the universal rights of the individual in one's own activities.
Inadmissibility of harassment - which refers to the inadmissibility of unwanted behavior towards any student, employee of the university or a third person, which aims or causes to damage his dignity, to create an intimidating, hostile, humiliating, degrading or insulting environment.
Respecting the work of others - which implies the inadmissibility of the persons employed at the university to hinder or delay the performance of work, the inadmissibility of presenting the results of the work of other students as their own.
The principle of taking care of the organization's reputation - which implies the obligation to share the university's mission, vision, and key values, and to act in accordance with them, not allowing reputational damage to the organization, to the person employed in it, or to its student or graduate by one's own actions or expressed opinions.
Respect and protection of confidential information - which implies the inadmissibility of disclosure or risk of disclosure to unauthorized persons of information containing personal data, objects of intellectual property rights of other persons or other important information.
Respect for a safe and healthy working environment - which means recognizing and following the usual rules of safety and hygiene in the university.
Respecting the academic appearance and image - which means the compliance of the student's external appearance, dress, manner of communication, and other expressions with the standards of conformity in the academic community.
Caring for the environment - which means being aware of environmental issues as much as possible in one's own activities, making optimal use of resources, protecting the environment
Inadmissible behavior for a student is considered to be:
Inadmissible behavior in the educational process - during the performance of the activity provided by any component of the educational program, is considered as following:
The initiator of the response to the violation of the code of ethics can be any structural unit of the university, teaching staff, or a person whose rights and legal interests were violated due to the inappropriate behavior of the university student.
The identity of the applicant is protected from disclosure upon request.
SUBMIT A COMPLAINTThe Ethics Committee is established by order of the Rector of the University, in order to study the issue of violation of the ethical values defined by this Code, to consider the issue of disciplinary liability as a result of establishing the fact of unacceptable behavior, and to select the measure of disciplinary liability for the violating student. The Committee consists of at least 3 members who have the competence to comprehensively assess the relevant issue. One member of the Committee must be the Student Ombudsman, or if his/her involvement in the discussion of a specific issue is impossible - another student nominated by the student self-government. The members of the Committee are obliged to exclude a conflict of interest both in relation to the student subject to disciplinary proceedings, as well as in relation to the person(s) against whom the violation was committed.
The stages of the work of the Ethics Committee are:
- Decision on the initiation of disciplinary proceedings;
- Conduct disciplinary proceedings;
- Imposition of disciplinary sanctions.
During disciplinary proceedings, the student has the right to:
- Receive a reasoned decision in writing on the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against him/her;
- Attend the discussion of the disciplinary proceedings;
- Exercise the right to defend himself/herself;
- Provide the University with information and evidence at his/her disposal;
- Participate in the examination of evidence;
The student has the right to request and receive a reasonable period at any stage of the proceedings for the purpose of preparing his/her position, exercising the right to defend himself/herself and/or collecting evidence. In this case, the Committee shall make a decision to postpone the consideration of the case and determine the period for the presentation of the position/evidence, which shall be specified in the Committee’s minutes and notified to the participants in the disciplinary proceedings.
The student is entitled to admit the fact of violating the Code of Ethics. In this case, the student's admission, supported by relevant evidence, is the basis for imposing a lighter disciplinary penalty on him.
The student is entitled to appeal the decision and disciplinary penalty imposed on him in court.
The Ethics Committee makes one of the following decisions:
- On failure to detect a violation of the Code of Ethics and termination of disciplinary proceedings against the student;
- On detection of a minor violation of the Code of Ethics, without imposing a disciplinary penalty on the student;
- On detection of a violation of the Code of Ethics and imposing a disciplinary penalty on the student.
The Committee, along with the assessment of the issue, is authorized to develop a definition of the ethical obligation set forth in this Code, which comprehensively establishes the scope of ethical and unethical behavior in relation to specific ethical values, as well as recommendations on examples of behavior based on the ethical values established by this Code. The definitions and recommendations of the Ethics Committee, in a generalized form (without identifying data of the violator, participant or victim) may be provided to other members of the university community.
For violation of the rules of conduct established by this Code, the following types of disciplinary sanctions are envisaged:
- Note (validity period - 6 months from the imposition of the penalty);
- Warning (validity period - 12 months from the imposition of the penalty);
- Termination of Student Status
The University is authorized to use the following additional tools to respond to misconduct:
- Restriction of the right to enjoy the benefits determined by the University;
- Temporary or permanent refusal by the University to issue a Good Character Certificate to the student.
- Cancellation of the assessment of the component/overall assessment of the study course;
- Cancellation of registration for the study course(s);
- Compensation for the damage caused.
