One of higher education's main goals has been to impact the formation of moral and ethical
members of society (McWilliams and Nahavandi, 2006). In this sense, colleges should simultaneously
effect the development of students' moral competence, in addition to providing them with an
education that prepares them intellectually to contribute to society's growth and prosperity (Palmer
and Zajonc, 2010). In apparent contrast, there has been an increase in student academic dishonesty all
around the world, including Africa, America, Europe, Asia or even Australia. Such dishonesty goes
against the university's core ideals. The first-year students of 2011 can be considered as members of
the'millennial' generation, having been born between 1982 and 2002. It is necessary to understand
what these students believe constitutes academic honesty or dishonesty, as well as their attitudes
toward these issues, in order for the university to fulfill its mandate of nurturing academic integrity in
these students as one of the "fundamental values" of higher education (Schmelkin, Gilbert, Spencer,
Pincus, and Silva, 2008, p. 587). As a result, the study's main aims were to investigate first-year
students' comprehension of and attitudes toward academic ethics at a South African university. This
finding contributes to a subject that has been understudied at South African institutions thus far. The
results can be used to create prospective action plans for first-year students at the university where the
study was conducted, as well as other South African universities. The goal is to instill in them a
knowledge of and appreciation for academic integrity.