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Your exams are an opportunity to demonstrate your skills, talent and hard work.

It is an offence for a candidate to infringe, or attempt to infringe, the regulations governing the conduct of examinations or to engage, or attempt to engage, in conduct for the purpose of gaining for themselves, or for another candidate, an unfair advantage with a view to obtaining a better result than they would otherwise achieve.

See Conduct of Examinations page for more information on conduct governing examinations.

Examples

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of taking or copying someone else’s work and presenting it as if it were one’s own.

Plagiarism occurs when ideas, texts, theories, data, created artistic artefacts or other materials are presented without appropriate acknowledgement.

This means that the person considering this work is given the impression they are viewing the student’s own original work when it is not the case.  Plagiarism can occur in various forms:

  • Copying – where a student actively copies the responses of another student during an exam but is presenting this as their own work.
  • Collusion – which involves the unauthorised collaboration of students on a piece of assessment that should otherwise represent an individual effort.
  • Personation – which involves someone assuming the identity of a student with the intent to deceive during an assessment by completing the work on behalf of the student.
  • Contract cheating – which involves a student engaging with and paying a third party to complete a piece of assessment on their behalf.
  • Covert use of AI generative tools – where AI generative tools are deployed for assessment purposes without authorisation and/or appropriate acknowledgement.
  • Auto-plagiarism – (or self-plagiarism) where a student’s own previous work is re-presented without being properly referenced.

Cheating during exams

Cheating during exams is when a student uses inadmissible materials or any other material during an exam, other than those approved by the invigilator.

Cheating during exams will also include the act of copying and the act of collusion where students signal answers to other students during an exam or share exam content with students after an exam with the intent for them to gain an unfair advantage.

Falsification

Falsification or fabrication involves the unauthorised creation of false information/data, or the alteration of information/data within a piece of assessment while presenting this information as genuine.

Reports of alleged offences are considered under procedures approved by the Council in consultation with the Senate in accordance with the Ordinance on Student Discipline.

Penalties

You should note that there are severe penalties for such offences.

The application of penalties may be considered by members of your course team, your Head of School or by a disciplinary panel, depending on the nature of offence.

Penalties are dependent on the number and nature of offences and can range from:

  1. a written reprimand and warning;
  2. a reduced or capped mark for the coursework or examination concerned;
  3. no credit for the coursework or examination concerned;
  4. repeat of the coursework or examination (where a repeat has been granted);
  5. no credit for the module concerned;
  6. Suspension or withdrawal from the course.

Academic Misconduct Policy