The severity of the offense determines the severity of the penalty. Admitting the allegation can speed up the process and may result in a lesser penalty. At the University of Exeter, there are three categories of Academic Misconduct that you should be aware of. Let's take a look at each category and what they involve:
1.Poor academic practice: This category refers to cases where there's a lack of understanding of academic protocols or a misunderstanding of expected academic conventions. When a case falls into this category, it's usually handled at the Faculty or Department level. It may result in a formal meeting with the student or the student attending a workshop to address the issues.
2.Academic misconduct: Academic misconduct involves behaviours that would deceive those who set, administer, and grade the coursework. It also includes behaviours that could give the student or someone else an unfair advantage. Cases falling under this category are typically dealt with at the Faculty level.
3.Severe academic misconduct:
This is the most serious category and may involve:
- A second offense of academic misconduct.
- Evidence of extensive plagiarism or cheating.
- Clear evidence of behaviour intended to deceive those involved in assessing the work.
- Behaviour designed to gain an advantage for the student.
Examples of severe academic misconduct include:
- Taking unauthorized notes or using unapproved devices during exams.
- Impersonating someone else or arranging for another person to impersonate someone during an exam.
- Submitting an assignment with a significant amount of unattributed or incorrectly attributed copying.
- Cases where a student has previously been penalized for academic misconduct
- Using essay sites that involve commercial transactions, with or without the author's consent.
- Misconduct in a dissertation or thesis for a postgraduate program.
- Suspected falsification or fabrication of underlying data.
- When severe academic misconduct is suspected, the Faculty (or delegated School) will initiate an investigation and, if necessary, refer the case to the University level for further action at the Senior Academic Conduct Officer's discretion.
For more detail on the definitions of offenses, please see here.
Remember, academic misconduct is taken seriously because it undermines the integrity of your education. It's essential to understand and follow the rules to maintain academic honesty. Academic integrity is crucial in higher education as it ensures the value of degrees.