Wellbeing & Integrity in Higher Education
An online series exploring the often-overlooked connection between academic wellbeing and academic integrity — through webinars, debates, and workshops for students, educators, and researchers.
5 sessions · February – June 2026
Series Progress
5 February 2026
Opening Keynote: Wellbeing & Integrity — The Hidden Link
Speakers: Prof. Judyth Sachs (Chief Academic Officer, Studiosity) · Garnet Berry · Veronika Krásničan (ENAI)
Prof. Sachs opened the series by exploring how academic pressure, stress, and burnout can contribute to integrity lapses — and why addressing wellbeing is itself an integrity intervention.
📹 Watch the recording
📌 Key Insights from Session 1
Why integrity checks feel like a headache
“We’re using old-school rules for a high-tech world.” The solution: let students defend their work and show their thinking — when they own it, they won’t shortcut it.
Myth: Teachers enjoy “catching” students using AI
Fact: Educators are just as stressed about distinguishing student effort from AI-generated text.
Myth: AI detectors are 100% accurate
Fact: 77% of students are stressed about false positives. Detectors are tools for flagging — not proof of cheating.
Myth: All students use AI because they’re lazy
Fact: Most turn to AI because of extreme pressure, lack of support, or fear of failure.
Myth: AI has made academic integrity a “lost cause”
Fact: AI is forcing us to return to authentic learning — valuing each student’s unique linguistic identity and critical voice.
Around two-thirds of students feel stressed using AI
It’s not weird to feel stressed about AI in school — around two-thirds of students report some level of AI-related stress in their studies.
✅ What Institutions Should Do Differently
✗ Don’t
Treat an AI detection score as a “guilty” verdict
✓ Do
Use it as a starting point for a conversation about the writing process. Move from suspicion to dialogue.
✗ Don’t
Focus purely on policing and punishing — it increases anxiety for everyone
✓ Do
Shift to “support and validate.” Focus on the learning journey, not just the final PDF/Word/PowerPoint.
✗ Don’t
Keep your AI guidelines vague or hidden
✓ Do
Be transparent about how AI is monitored and how students can defend their original work. Transparency = Trust.
🖼️ Visual Highlights
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14 May 2026
Students Speak: Balancing Success, Stress & Integrity
Format: Structured debate · Participants: Students
Moderated by Nafisa Anjum — Student Board Chair, Centre for Academic Integrity in the UAE (ENAI WG)
Students shared their lived experiences of navigating academic pressure, managing stress, and making difficult choices around academic integrity. The session gave space for honest, unfiltered voices from the people most affected.
📌 Topics explored by students
Burnout & emotional exhaustion
Balancing it all
Academic pressure & fear of failure
Academic integrity & stress
Support systems & student community
Recording not publicly available
This session covered sensitive and personal student experiences. The recording is kept private to protect participant wellbeing and confidentiality.
2 June 2026
Performance vs. Wellbeing: Can Universities Have It All?
Format: Structured debate · Participants: Academics & Students
A critical discussion on whether academic excellence and wellbeing can truly coexist — and what structural, cultural, and policy changes universities need to make to support both. Participants explored the role of assessment design, institutional culture, and student support in reducing integrity risk.
📹 Session recording — coming soon
The full recording will be available here once uploaded to YouTube.
📌 Key Themes from Session 3
Assessment design as a wellbeing lever
High-stakes, one-shot assessments drive both anxiety and integrity violations. Distributed, process-based assessment design reduces both at once.
The “performance culture” paradox
Institutions that prioritise rankings and metrics over student experience often unintentionally create conditions where misconduct becomes a rational response to impossible demands.
Students and academics: shared stress
Both groups reported similar pressures — fear of failure, competition, and a sense that the system rewards output over genuine learning.
Structural change, not individual blame
Sustainable integrity requires policy-level change — not just awareness campaigns. Universities need to examine workload models, support systems, and feedback cultures.
* Session 3 themes are summarised from the session description and discussion framework. Detailed insights will be updated once the recording is reviewed.
11 June 2026
Supporting Student Wellbeing Without Lowering Standards
Format: Workshop for Lecturers & Researchers · Speakers: Dr. Eter Shavreshiani (Caucasus University, Tbilisi) · Prof. Sónia P. Gonçalves (Universidade de Lisboa)
Two speakers approached the session’s central question — “How can we support student wellbeing without lowering academic standards?” — from Georgian and Portuguese contexts, drawing on research and lived academic experience.
Recording coming soon
The full recording of Session 4 will be added here shortly.
📌 Key Insights from Session 4
High expectations + high support = student success
Supporting wellbeing is not about lowering the bar — it is about building the scaffolding that allows students to actually reach it.
The 3-step feedback model
What works → What to improve → The next step. Same content, entirely different chance that the student tries again.
Notice – Ask – Clarify – Refer
Recognising red flags — sudden withdrawal, missed deadlines, anxious messages — without taking on the role of therapist. Noticing is a professional responsibility.
Accountability and dignity are not opposites
Follow institutional policy fully and consistently — and explain, support, and conduct the process with respect. Both are expressions of professional integrity.
“Our first question must not be ‘Why didn’t you submit?’ — it must be ‘What is stopping you from succeeding?'”
— Dr. Eter Shavreshiani
Context shapes everything
60%+ of Georgian students work while studying. 48% of Portuguese students report anxiety or stress symptoms. Students arrive carrying entire lives.
“Students do not need lower standards. They need clearer guidance, respectful communication, and the confidence that someone believes they can meet those standards.”
— Dr. Eter Shavreshiani, Affiliated Associate Professor, Caucasus University
2 July 2026
Towards a Culture of Integrity and Care in Higher Education
Format: Closing Roundtable · Facilitated by Veronika Krásničan, Executive Director, ENAI
The closing session brought together students, lecturers, researchers, and Studiosity colleagues to reflect on all five sessions, map the gaps in the conversation, and co-create practical recommendations for the upcoming Wellbeing & Academic Integrity Handbook. The core throughline of the series — moving from a “police and punish” model to a “support and validate” culture — was crystallised into a shared framework for institutional change.
Recording coming soon
The full recording of Session 5 will be added here shortly.
📌 Key Themes from Session 5
From police & punish → support & validate
The surveillance model punishes clumsy AI use more than deliberate misuse. The alternative: reduce pressure, opportunity, and rationale for misconduct — not just the opportunity.
Mapping what was covered — and what wasn’t
Social & emotional development and assessment design were covered in depth. Critical thinking erosion, data privacy, equity, and institutional reputation were identified as gaps to address in the handbook.
Evidence: a global crisis of trust
Studiosity & YouGov (2026, ~10,000 students, 9 countries): 81% use AI in their studies; 77% are stressed about being wrongly flagged; 42% say their university has given no guidance on ethical AI use.
Practical outputs for the handbook
Participants worked on: AI-resistant assignment ideas, viva-style check questions, wrongly-flagged flowcharts, model appeal processes, and syllabus AI-use statement templates.
What Comes Next
We Are Now Preparing the Handbook
The Wellbeing & Academic Integrity Handbook will bring together key insights from all five sessions, practical tools and checklists, case studies, and voices from participants across the series — released as a PDF and online resource pack.
If you are interested in joining us as a co-author or contributor, please fill in the form below and we will reach out to you with the detailed plan.
Final Product & Legacy
Wellbeing & Academic Integrity Handbook
Date TBC · Format: PDF + online resource pack (including planners and tools)
Key insights & takeaways
Distilled highlights from all five sessions, accessible to anyone who missed them.
Practical tips for everyone
Tailored guidance for students, lecturers, and researchers on protecting wellbeing and fostering integrity.
Infographics & checklists
Self-care, academic care, teaching strategies, and research support — ready to print or share.
Voices from the Series
Short case studies and first-person reflections from participants across the five sessions.
Podcast-style recordings
Selected content adapted into short audio-friendly formats — for listening on the go.
Our Partner
Studiosity
This wellbeing series is made possible thanks to our partner Studiosity. Studiosity works globally with higher education institutions to support student success through on-demand academic support, skills development, and a strong focus on student wellbeing.
Studiosity has produced influential research on student wellbeing, highlighting the pressures students face and the importance of timely, compassionate academic support. Their Student Wellbeing Report provides evidence-based insights that strongly align with the aims of this series.
Supporting student success through on-demand academic support, skills development, and a commitment to student wellbeing worldwide.