This study reports the results of a survey designed to assess the impact of education on the perceptions of ethical beliefs of students. The study examines the beliefs of students from selected colleges in an eastern university. The results indicate that beliefs which students perceive are required to succeed in the university differ among colleges. Business and economics students consistently perceive a greater need for unethical beliefs than students from other colleges.
Previous research on business students' ethics has found disturbing evidence that raises serious question about the impact of business education on students' ethical perceptions (Lane et al., 1988;Arlow and Ulrich, 1983; Brenner and Mislander, 1977; and Purcell, 1977). The results of these studies directly raise questions about business education but fail to address a potential underlying reason for their findings. "While studies have focused on business students' ethics as a natural offshoot of the continuing interest in business ethics (Lane and Schaupp, 1985;Beltramini et al., 1984;Bellizzi and Hasty, 1982), who is to say that business students are the only subset of the population of students to be studied regarding ethics? While initial emphasis may have focused on business students due to the current concern for business ethics, ethics should be of concern to all members of society.
The purpose of this study is to examine students' perceptions of the ethical dimensions of a varie D" of educational programs.