Management and Science University

Dr. Erwin Martinez Faller, a senior lecturer from the School of Pharmacy at the Management and Science University in Malaysia , was one of the university's early adopters of Turnitin. He has been instrumental in adopting and helping the university propagate in a campus-wide through his innovative classes. Faller is a researcher, global speaker and an active advocate for Turnitin.

Implementing Turnitin has been a milestone in the university’s push to embed academic integrity into its ethos. To combat negative perceptions about Turnitin, the university launched a broad communications campaign, followed by staff and student training, to educate everyone on campus about the need for academic integrity and how to support it. Among faculty, they used a peer-to-peer approach reinforced through monthly seminars and feedback sessions. Once faculty understood the benefits and felt comfortable using Turnitin, they started educating students in the classroom.

Faller says it required some effort to get going, but now they have momentum that will help the university improve and sustain its top rankings and reputation as a “Global University of Choice.” In a survey they conducted to gauge progress, Faller says results revealed a positive change in mindset with 92.5% of students reporting awareness of the importance of academic integrity.

“It’s a learning process,” says Faller. “Academic integrity doesn’t manifest all at once. It has to become a lifestyle.” When they first introduced Turnitin, Faller says they had to push it on the students, but now students ask to check their work in Turnitin. By instilling honest research practices on its students, Faller says they’re contributing to a healthy, cyclical ecosystem of academic integrity.

Management and Science University was a Turnitin Global Award Winner in 2017