Dear All,

Apologies for such a long post - especially as I am new to this forum.  At the University of Sussex we are reviewing our regulations regarding academic misconduct and would like to take into consideration practice at other institutions.  Therefore, I would be very grateful if you could answer the following questions.  I suggest that  due the range of questions  replies are sent off list to [log in to unmask] .  I will then collate the responses and circulate.

 

Research into academic misconduct regulations at other Universities

 

Exams:

1.       At your institution does academic misconduct occur where a student is in possession of unauthorised materials in the exam room (e.g. phone, notes etc.) or where a student makes use of unauthorised material in the exam room?

2.       In your formal examination and assessment regulations and procedures do you refer to being in possession of unauthorised materials in the exam room as academic misconduct?  We are considering changing the language so that being is possession of unauthorised material results in the security of the examination being breached, instead of academic misconduct. (A penalty would still be applied).

3.       Do you display exam regulations in the exam room in other languages?  We have been asked to consider having posters in Mandarin, as we have a number of students from China.

4.       In relation to unauthorised materials, do you allow the following in the exam room on the student’s person (i.e. not at the side of the room or in a clear plastic bag on the floor):

(i)                  Phone

(ii)                Smart watch

(iii)               Any watch

(iv)               Notes (other than notes required as part of the exam e.g. Open Note Exam)

 

 

 

Plagiarism and Collusion:

5.We have the following framework for penalties and developmental opportunities.  Please can you provide information on what your institution does.

 

(i) First Case of plagiarism or collusion (developmental opportunity: a workshop and formative assessments):

– No penalty.  Student gets a mark for the work that is considered to be their own and is referred to an Academic Practice Workshop to provide support in paraphrasing , understanding what is considered good academic practice, why this is important etc.

(ii) Minor case of plagiarism or collusion:

– reduction of mark by 10% points. Student does not get a mark for work not considered to be their own.

(iii) Major case of academic misconduct (plagiarism, collusion, exam misconduct, personation):

– standard penalty for a first visit to the Panel for a major case (reduce the mark for the assessment component to zero)

- discretionary penalties for further visits to the Panel (reduce mark of module to zero, reduce the class or grand mean, disqualification from the University). 

We brought in the standard penalty for a first visit to the Panel for a major case in 2015/16.  This was to ensure that there was equity in penalties, as previously some misconduct panels, gave the penalty intended for a minor case, depending on the circumstances of the case.

 

Notes:

First cases of plagiarism and collusion do not go to panel unless the student requests this route. They are dealt with in the School by the Investigating Officer, module convenor and Head of School.

All students have the right to appeal any decision made by the panel/ School for first cases.

The panel is not able to take into account any mitigating circumstances. These are considered under a separate process.

Personation:

6. For 2016/17 our regulations have enabled personation to be considered by the panel.  For example, where a student buys an essay online but the panel does not have the evidence to confirm that the essay has been purchased.  The regulations allow the School to bring a case forwards where they can show that the standard of writing is different to other written assessments/ exceptional for the cohort etc.  Do your regulations allow cases of personation of this type to be taken to a misconduct panel?  If so how?

Many thanks,

Alison

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Alison Chisholm

Senior Teaching Fellow

Arts A137

Sussex Centre for Language Studies

University of Sussex,

Falmer, Brighton

BN1 9SH

Tel: 01273 873823