• Week culminated in the Integrity Pledge, marking a shift from awareness to personal accountability

Abu Dhabi, UAE:  Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi (SUAD) successfully concluded its annual Integrity Week, held in April 2026, reinforcing academic integrity as a defining principle of its teaching and its student experience, alongside its focus on academic excellence and holistic student development.

More than a standalone initiative, Integrity Week reflects the University’s broader mission to cultivate critical thinkers and future leaders, capable of engaging responsibly with knowledge in an increasingly complex and technology-driven world. This year’s edition, aligned with SUAD’s ‘Year of AI’, explored artificial intelligence, not just as a tool but as a subject of critical inquiry.

This approach also aligns with the vision of the United Arab Emirates, where His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, has emphasised the importance of the responsible use of artificial intelligence, reflecting the country’s commitment to advancing innovation grounded in values and ethics.

During the week, students engaged with artificial intelligence in its broadest sense, with a particular emphasis on applied AI. Moving beyond technical foundations, the programme explored how AI is actively reshaping disciplines across academia, industry and society.

This multidisciplinary approach enabled students to understand AI not in abstraction, but as embedded within contemporary knowledge systems and societal contexts. Importantly, the programme also highlighted that the principles governing its ethical use such as critical thinking, intellectual rigor, and integrity are not new. They remain long-standing foundations of academic practice and continue to guide scholarly work in the age of artificial intelligence.

The week culminated in the signing of the Integrity Pledge, marking a deliberate shift from awareness to personal accountability. By committing in writing, students affirmed their adherence to academic honesty, intellectual independence, and the responsible use of AI tools. The pledge serves both as a symbolic milestone marking the completion of the programme and as a practical reminder of the standards expected throughout their academic journey.

To bring these principles into practice, the programme incorporated applied, discipline-specific experiences. A notable example was an urban planning workshop led by the Department of Geography in collaboration with the SUAD Library, with Dr. Simone Safe, Head of Programme in Geography and Planning supporting its pedagogical design.

As part of the exercise, first-year Geography students examined mobility and public space in Downtown Abu Dhabi, focusing on the Al Hosn and Hamdan Street area. Working in two groups, they adopted contrasting research approaches - one grounded in academic literature and library resources, and the other driven by AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. The objective was not simply to generate solutions, but to critically evaluate the reliability, depth, and real-world applicability of each method.

While students proposed a range of urban interventions, from improved walkability and green spaces to enhanced safety and accessibility, the exercise revealed a clear distinction. AI tools accelerated idea generation but often lacked contextual nuance and analytical depth. The outcome reinforced a central tenet of Integrity Week – technology can support knowledge creation, but it is disciplined inquiry and critical judgement that give it meaning.

Professor Nathalie Martial-Braz, Chancellor of Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, said: “Integrity Week proudly reflects our commitment to developing students as thoughtful and responsible individuals. Through critical reflection and real-world case studies, they engage with the ethical dimensions of knowledge, including the growing impact of artificial intelligence. We are proud to see our students apply this thinking in practice, demonstrating that while AI can support learning, it cannot replace critical thinking, contextual understanding, and academic rigor.”

This year’s Integrity Week featured daily modules combining videos, podcasts, and interactive activities, designed by professors from Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and AI experts, and formed a mandatory component for students ahead of their examinations.

Through this, the initiative further reinforced intellectual rigor, ethical awareness, and a strong sense of responsibility; qualities that continue to define Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi graduates.

To learn more about Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and its programmes, please visit https://www.sorbonne.ae/

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About Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi (SUAD)

Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, established in May 2006 as the first French university in the UAE and under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is a branch campus of the Sorbonne University in Paris, licensed by the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK). SUAD brings 768 years of academic excellence from the prestigious Sorbonne University and Université Paris-Cité in Paris to a 93,000 sqm state-of-the-art campus on Al Reem Island. The multidisciplinary research university offers over 20 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes across three specialised schools: Arts and Humanities; Law, Economics, Business; and Data, Science and Engineering as well as on-demand PhD programmes from the doctoral schools in France  All degrees are awarded by Sorbonne Université and Université Paris Cité and are evaluated by France’s Higher Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (HCERES) and accredited by the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Innovation (MESR), as well as the UAE’s Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA).

SUAD’s programmes blend academic rigour, critical thinking, with practical experience through industry partnerships. Home to the Gulf’s largest French language academic library, the university advances research, innovation, and cross-cultural dialogue between French and Emirati communities. Its motto “Choose Excellence, choose SUAD” reveals its commitment to Excellence, one of its 5 strategic pillars – Research, Education, Excellence, Visibility and Sustainability.  SAFIR, its multidisciplinary research institute powers the wider knowledge production with 7 centers working on critical domains (such as AI, Humanities and Marine Science), access to 17,000 researchers in France and UAE and strong industry research partnerships. SUAD welcomes the community to its cultural center offering a year-round program of exhibitions, theater plays, concerts, cinema and cultural talks. SUAD is engaged in advancing the UN SDGs through its sustainability pillar. With over 3,200 graduates from more than 90 nationalities, SUAD contributes significantly to Abu Dhabi’s multicultural academic ecosystem. Sorbonne Université is ranked 43rd globally in the Shanghai Rankings 2025, and it is ranked 6th globally in Mathematics and 29th globally in Physics, and is recognized as the 1st Communication School in France by Le Figaro Étudiant 2025. Sorbonne Université is also ranked 8th in the Young University Rankings by Times Higher Education. Université Paris Cité is ranked 60th globally in the 2025 Shanghai Ranking. SUAD’s School of Arts and Humanities was named the 1st Humanities Education University by the Forbes Middle East Higher Education Awards in 2019. In 2025, SUAD ranked second in the UAE for Responsible Consumption and Production in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. SUAD has also ranked first in the Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Environmental Award in the Research Institute category.

For more information about Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi: https://www.sorbonne.ae/