Dr. Patrick Awuah explains why Ashesi students don’t ‘cheat’ in exams

Dr. Patrick Awuah, President of the Ashesi University has revealed that one of the hallmarks of students of his institution is the fact that they are honest and do not engage in examination malpractices.

According to him, the students have developed a system based on trust in which they hold each other accountable for their deeds because of the "high class environment" in which they are being trained.

Speaking at a town hall forum at the University of Ghana Tuesday on the theme: “The Power of partnership: Strengthening research in higher education”, Dr. Awuah observed that trust and honesty are key in building sustainable partnerships.

He however explained that trust does not just happen but requires some effort by the parties involved.

“There have to be people honest enough to enforce the rule of law and there has to be a critical mass of people who are behaving in an honest way in order to have trust,” he posited.

This, according to the educator, explains why the students of Ashesi University have decided to “develop and operate an honest system of their own where they say they’re not going to cheat in exams for example, and they’re not going to tolerate it too”.

Though a very difficult value to uphold as youngsters, Dr. Awuah said his student have been able to avoid cheating in their exams, thus helping each other to develop that attitude of honesty by keeping checks on their colleagues as well.

“The question of saying I’m not going to cheat in exams is relatively easy for somebody to say but to say I’m not going to tolerate those who cheat. So if I see a colleague cheating I’m going to turn them in. This is not easy for young people but they did it because they don’t look at it as snitching or whatever, they look at it as holding everybody to account,” he noted.