Academic institutions hold to a set of ethical and social responsibilities, some of which are enforced by equal opportunity laws. These laws are standard at all institutions that receive federal funding; many of those that don't (private schools) follow the same rules as self-imposed standards. Such practices are considered important to the school's integrity.
Most schools, both public and private, make their ethical code available in publications and online, often as rules of conduct. These include rules that maintain the integrity of students (bans on cheating and plagiarism) and instructors (not allowing personal opinions, bias or prejudice to influence grading). Because integrity is a key value for academic institutions, and accusations of ethical violations may have dire consequences for the school, personnel found in violation of these ethics often receive harsh punishment, such as expulsion or termination.
The social responsibilities of specific institutions are often laid out in a school's mission statement. These frequently include an obligation for community enrichment, educating students who enter the school and having them in turn use that education for the good of others. Some colleges and universities outline these responsibilities in required semester-long classes, for credit, during a student's first year of enrollment.
Business ethics are taught as a set of legally enforced practices placed upon those in the business world. Many of these focus on the treatment of employees and other personnel involved in the business and how certain practices reflect on a company's public image.
Though social responsibilities aren't a strict requirement of business, with potential consumers placing greater demands on companies to act in socially responsible ways, increasing attention is being given to business practices. For example, since the collapse of the financial and housing markets in 2008, economics and finance educators have placed a greater emphasis on ethics and social responsibility in those fields. Similarly, a work force increasingly diverse in age, gender and race requires business management students to learn proper conduct toward each of these groups.
In social sciences, such as history, educators emphasize the cause and effect of actions taken by different populations. This offers a better understanding of the motivation behind the subject being studied. Where in the past history texts have taken a pejorative view toward non-Western events or presented a certain population as superior to another, emphasis today is placed on considering people as equals without inherent limitations.
Though fine arts are meant as personal expression, and at times single works are created expressly to violate social norms, art students are also educated in ethics and social responsibilities. Artists need to be aware of how their work may be interpreted by various audiences. For example, visual arts students may be taught a history of discriminatory iconography as a way of being aware of how art has been used to degrade portions of the population through propaganda and crude caricature. Similarly, writing students may take a course in which they read historical and colonial literature to raise awareness of how these populations were represented in the written work of that time. Modern artists often see a responsibility to give a voice to populations that were historically degraded or ignored, and this is reflected in academia.
Science academics have always emphasized objective truth and integrity in their findings. The work of physicists, biologists, engineers and other scientists depends on limiting the influence of forces outside of those being tested, so ethics of data has always been important. However, social responsibility has not always been a major subject of study for science and engineering students. Recent changes in practices (such as a shift away from animal testing) have led to a rise in ethical concerns in scientific communities.
Modern academics advise their students that all work done should be conducted with an eye toward how their work will help others. The same level of objectivity used on data is used on the subject of study. Academic scientists emphasize approaching a subject without an agenda. A study on global climate change, for example, may be immediately dismissed if it's proved or even reasonably suggested that the scientists behind the study began the experiment as a way of justifying their personal opinions. Scientific work will not be beneficial if it is immediately dismissed.