Academic Conduct Procedure For Study

At Staffs you will complete assessments so we can check your understanding of what you have learnt, and your work needs to be of a high standard so that any awards that we give out are of the high quality that we expect. If you complete your assessments well, it helps us to make sure that you are ready to enter the workplace or further study. For more reasons on why we assess student’s work, please see the assessment policy and procedures. Assessment policy and procedures

We will make sure that academic research and assessments are carried out fairly. You are expected to study and complete assessments honestly. This means that:

• Your work is your own;
• You have acknowledged every source of information you have used;
• Your research has been done ethically.

If you do this, you will have good academic conduct

Any form of cheating poses a threat to academic standards and the value of our awards. This is important for all of our students.

Good academic conduct is important for you. It is part of your development and without it, you are cheating yourself out of your own learning journey.

In some cases academic conduct can lead to referral to other processes such as the Student Conduct Procedure, where appropriate.

We understand that you may be adjusting to a new way of learning, particularly if you are coming from a different academic culture.

We will support you to understand what good academic conduct is from the outset of your course, imbedding it in your learning and development. Study Skills Teams are also here to help if you need refresher support.

We want you to do the best you can. We understand that you may ask someone to proof-read your work and that’s ok. But asking others to change your work runs the risk of becoming academic misconduct.

We are not here to catch you out, we want you to understand what is expected of you so that you can learn with good academic conduct and be successful.

If you are studying a University of Staffordshire course at one of our partners, this procedure will apply but will be implemented using local arrangements.

However, if you wish to appeal against a decision on your academic conduct, the appeal will be considered at University of Staffordshire and may require your virtual attendance.

Poor academic conduct is called academic misconduct. This is described as any action which could give you, or someone else, an unfair advantage in an assessment, including examinations. It is also any action which could undermine the fairness of assessment and research at the University.

There are different types of academic misconduct.

Poor academic practice is not academic misconduct. Poor academic practice happens when you have used too much of other’s work in your assessment, even when you have acknowledged, and we can’t tell how much you’ve learned for yourself. Alternatively, it may be that you haven’t understood how to reference your work properly, but there is no evidence that you have tried to gain an unfair advantage in your assessment.

If we feel that your work contains poor academic practice, we will discuss this with you and advise you on how you can improve.

We understand that going through an academic conduct investigation will be difficult for you. However, we will treat you in a sensitive and non-judgmental way. We handle your case confidentially and the only people who will know about your case will be those involved in providing us with evidence or making a decision. We will share with you all the information we are using to reach a decision and give you every opportunity to tell us your side.

We know that this is a difficult time for you, but we expect you to be honest and respect those dealing with your situation and we will treat you in the same way.

If you have a disability you can request that a reasonable adjustment is made to prevent you from being disadvantaged. Please let us know as soon as possible if this applies to you.

All meetings undertaken within this procedure can be held digitally.

If your Tutor believes that you have committed academic misconduct, they will gather all evidence and inform your Course Leader. Your Course Leader will inform you . The evidence will normally include the Turnitin Report, if this is relevant, and any sources which we believe you have copied from. If the allegations relate to cheating in an exam, we will include the examination certificate.

If your Course Leader and person identifying the misconduct judge that the instance is likely to be a minor one, as set out in the list of sanctions we will deal with your case informally. If it is considered that your case is more serious, we will ask you to attend a formal meeting. 

If you’re invited to attend a formal or appeal hearing meeting as part of this process, there are certain things that you can expect to happen.

An agenda for the meeting will be sent to you with your invitation to attend.

We know this can be a difficult time, so we always give you time to prepare, this is one week (excluding bank holidays). We recommend you attend with a Students’ Union representative, and if you wish to do so, you should contact the Students’ Union as soon as you can to arrange representation. Alternatively, you can attend with a supportive student friend. If you want to, you can write a statement before attending.

If your case is considered to be more serious it will be referred to an Academic Conduct Panel.

The Panel will normally comprise:

• A Head of Department or Associate Dean who has not been involved in the case (Chair)
• Two academic members of staff with no connection to the case
• A nominee of the Students' Union with no connection to the case

For each case, a minimum of three Panel members must be present, including the Chair and the Students’ Union nominee. Where a conflict of interest arises in relation to a particular case, a Panel member may withdraw for that case and re-join the meeting thereafter, provided that the minimum composition requirements are met.

Hearings will normally be convened on scheduled dates throughout the academic year, with cases referred to the next available hearing.

The person who suspects the misconduct will be present to give evidence.  

If you do not wish to attend the meeting and admit to the misconduct, you may do so. You can return the signed Academic Misconduct form to us and the Academic Conduct Panel will then apply the most appropriate sanction.

Please see the Attending a formal Hearing section above for more information.

Someone will take notes at the meeting and you will be sent a copy of the decision within one week (excluding bank holidays and University closures).

If at any point during these proceedings, we have concerns that the work you have submitted is not your own, we may ask you to attend a further meeting with your Module Leader or Project Supervisor to answer more detailed questions. This is called a Viva Voce and this is outside of your normal assessment, this means that it will not contribute towards your mark, but it will help us to decide if your work is your own. A recommendation from the Viva Voce meeting will inform our decision on your academic conduct.  

We will decide if academic misconduct has or has not occurred.

We will consider all of the evidence to make a decision based on the balance of probability. This means that we will decide whether the allegation of misconduct is more likely to be true than not.

Each of the points below may have an impact on the case outcomes and will be used by the panel to assess severity of the case.

1. Whether you have committed academic misconduct before;
2. How far you are into your academic journey;
3. How has the academic misconduct in your work impacted on the mark given;
4. Is the academic misconduct widespread across a range of modules;
5. Did you admit the offence in the first instance;
6. Is there evidence that you committed academic misconduct on purpose;
7. Do you have personal circumstances which affected your decision making at the time?

Please see a list of case studies (PDF, file size: 73KB) to help you understand how we view offences. 

Where Academic Misconduct has been proven and we apply a sanction, the University will be unable to offer you condonement of the module or assessment. For more information on this, please see the 'What is Module Condonement' section of the Academic Regulations.

In addition to a sanction you will be required to complete an online module about academic conduct and sign a commitment regarding your future study.

If you disagree with the decision made on your Academic Conduct case, you can submit an appeal, although the grounds for doing so are limited.  When you are informed of the decision on your case, you will be given details of how to submit an appeal if you wish to do so.

The appeal process is evidence based, and so any appeal must include independent, relevant evidence to explain your reasoning. The Student Guide to Providing Evidence gives more guidance about the type of evidence that might be appropriate.

Appeals must be submitted within two weeks. Please note that timelines exclude bank holidays and University closures.  After that, an appeal will only be accepted if you have demonstrated that there was nothing that you could have done to submit it on time.

Guidance on the standard of acceptable evidence.

You may appeal against an academic conduct decision for the following reasons which you must make clear in your appeal:

• That the procedure was not followed properly and this has affected the outcome;
• That the decision reached was unreasonable due to bias or the harshness of the sanction.
• That you have new evidence which you were unable to provide earlier in the process for valid reasons;

We will check that your appeal is:

• On time, within 2 weeks (excluding banks holidays and University closures) of the decision.
• Meets one of the reasons to appeal.

and

• Is supported by evidence.

If your appeal does not meet all the above, we will not consider it and we will write to you explaining the reason why.

If your appeal is eligible, it will be considered by an Academic Conduct Appeal Panel. This will always be held at University of Staffordshire and may require virtual attendance if you are a distance learning student or studying with a partner of the University. The Panel is made up of the following;

• An Executive Dean or Director with no connection to your case
• A Course Director from another course
• A nominee of the Students' Union with no connection to your case

The Chair of the Panel or person making the original decision may attend to give evidence.

Please see the 'Attending a Formal Hearing' section above for more information.

Someone will take notes at the meeting and you will be sent a copy of the decision within one week (excluding bank holidays).

The Appeal Panel will make one of the following decisions:

• To agree with the previous decision

• To start a new investigation because our procedure was not followed.

• To change the decision of an Academic Conduct Panel (but not to increase the penalty) because there is new evidence to consider or the previous decision was unreasonable or biased.

If you disagree with the appeal decision, you have the right to make a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) within one year of the decision.

You can find out more by visiting the OIA website.

If you are registered on a course with professional requirements or Fitness to Practise requirements, and we find that academic misconduct has happened, we may refer your case to the member of the School Management Team with responsibility for Fitness to Practise. They will decide if we need to refer to the Fitness to Practise Procedure.

The academic conduct process overrides the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure. This means that using the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure does not stop us from investigating and penalising academic misconduct in your work.  

If there is evidence that your conduct would also be a breach of discipline, for example if you are found to have intimidated someone, we will also refer your case for consideration under the Student Conduct Procedure.

We expect you to demonstrate learning by completing your assessments yourself. Any of the below definitions may also include the unauthorised use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or other mechanisms.

Plagiarism

This is presenting work which is not your own, without acknowledgement of the source, as your own work.

Self-Plagiarism

Submitting the same piece of assessment for two different modules would be self-plagiarism. If you re-use your own work, you must reference it the same way you would reference something you have used from a textbook.

Collusion

This happens if you submit a piece of work done in collaboration with another student as if the work was entirely your own.

False Declaration

This happens if you either:

• Make up evidence in support of an Exceptional Circumstances claim; or

• Make up evidence in support of an Appeal.

Fabrication or Falsification of Data

This happens if you make up (or manipulate) data or results and record or report on them in a piece of assessment.

Bribery or Intimidation

This happens if you pay; offer some other inducement; or through intimidation attempt to gain an unfair advantage in an assessment. This offence may also be referred to the Student Disciplinary Procedure.

Contract Cheating

This happens if you arrange for an assessment to be completed by a third party and pass the assessment off as your own. This might involve buying either the whole or part of an assessment, for example from an auction site or essay mill.

Examination Misconduct

An examination includes class-tests, written, oral and practical examinations. The following is a list of academic misconduct relating to examinations, it is not an exhaustive list.

Unauthorised Materials

• Getting, or seeing, a copy of an examination question paper before the date and time of its authorised release (this covers both ‘seen’ and ‘unseen’ papers)

• Having an unauthorised dictionary in an examination

• Technology in an Examination

• The possession of technological or electronic devices such as mobile phones, smart watches and hidden earpieces/micro earbuds/mini cameras

• The use of unauthorised material stored in the memory of a pre-programmable calculator, organiser, watch, or mobile phone

• Having a calculator other than a dedicated calculator with a calculation function only

Copying

• Copying from, or trying to copy from, another candidate

• Having or using concealed notes

Communicating

• Communicating with, or attempting to communicate with, any person other than an invigilator during an examination

Impersonation

• Getting, or trying to get, someone else to take your examination for you

• Getting, or trying to get, someone to take an examination for another student

• Taking, or attempting to take, an examination for another student

In such cases, both the student and the impersonator have committed academic misconduct. We may report this type of academic misconduct to the Police: impersonation is a type of fraud.