ABSTRACT
The entry of markets in the sphere of higher education (HE) is significantly changing the context of academic work in India. Ethical choices must be made anew as governments, academic institutions, and students approach education with more pecuniary motives. This chapter defines academic ethics as alignment with core principles of HE that have evolved over time (i.e. search for knowledge and truth, freedom of thought and expression, readiness to question the existing ideas and order of things, ethical values of tolerance, the commitment to progress, and connectedness to social reality). The chapter then examines contemporary professional academic practice through this ethical lens in three areas: (1) At the level of the HE institutions that are renewing and/or adapting the character of education that they aim to impart; (2) The nature of relationships between teachers belonging to different academic disciplines within an institution; and (3) The attitude of academics towards members belonging to the same discipline who adhere to different paradigms or sub-disciplines. The chapter argues that the ethics of higher education are under considerable stress, and it suggests some strategies to reclaim the lost ethics.
