Academic integrity and misconduct

Here we explain what academic integrity and academic misconduct are, why they are important and the support on offer to help you apply good academic practice in your work.

What is academic integrity?

Academic Integrity is about engaging in good academic practice. It means being honest and transparent, and demonstrating rigour and accuracy in your work.

This includes making sure that you cite the sources of your ideas and information properly, ensuring that you are using appropriate research methods, or checking that your work is free of errors.

What support does the University offer?

The University offers lots of services to help you develop your skills and practice good academic integrity. There is a wealth of support that you can explore below:

You can learn more about all of the support on offer via the academic integrity area of the Academic and Study Skills page on Moodle.

What is academic misconduct?

Academic misconduct is any action that could give you an unfair advantage in coursework, exams or any other assessed work, which could lead to undermining the academic standards of the University.

Offences relating to assessed work

These include, but are not limited to:

unacknowledged incorporation of another person’s work
unacknowledged summarising of another person’s work
unacknowledged and/or unauthorised use of the ideas of another person
copying the work of another person with or without that person’s knowledge or agreement and presenting it as one’s own
the representation of another person’s work, without acknowledgement of the source, as one’s own
the submission of collaborative work as entirely a student’s own
the completion of work with another person which is intended to be submitted as a student’s own unaided work
actions which enable another student to access / copy all or part of their own work and to submit it as that student’s own unaided work
the use of third parties and/or websites to attempt to buy assessments or answers to questions set
gaining access to any unauthorised material relating to an assessment prior to the release date of such information
the provision of falsified information that has the potential to give a student an unfair advantage.
proceeding with data collections without ethical approval
failures to follow accepted procedures or to exercise due care in carrying out responsibilities for avoiding unreasonable risk or harm to:
- humans
- animals used in research
- the environment
- the proper handling of privileged or private information on individuals collected during research, including failure to seek appropriate consent and breaking of data protection regulations
submitting all or part of a piece of work for which you have already received credit
use of materials created by others and passed off as students’ own. This includes the unauthorised use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and all forms of contract cheating, such as the use of material produced by essay mills.

This does not apply to third parties such as Studiosity that have been sanctioned by the University to provide guidance and assistance to students in specific assessment situations, or where the generation of content using artificial intelligence (AI) has been expressly authorised as part of the assessment component.

falsification of data or sources of information that are presented in support of the assessment

Offences relating to formal exams

These may include, but are not limited to:

non-compliance with Exam Regulations, which are found in the Undergraduate or Taught Postgraduate Assessment Regulations
copying or attempting to copy from any other candidate during an exam
communicating during an exam with any person other than the invigilator(s) or other authorised members of staff unless expressly permitted by the exam and/or Assessment Regulations
introducing into the exam room or being in possession of any written or printed material(s) or obtaining any electronically stored information unless expressly permitted by the exam and/or assessment regulations
being in possession of, or obtaining access to, a copy of an exam question paper in advance of the date and time for its authorised release (this covers both ‘seen’ and ‘unseen’ papers)
disruptive behaviour in an exam
being party to personation, where an individual assumes the identity of another person with intent to deceive, for example, by sitting or attempting to sit an exam or test in the place of the student who should be sitting it
continuing to write after the end of the exam
the provision of information that has the potential to give a student an unfair advantage.

The University will investigate all suspected cases of academic misconduct and a proven case could seriously impact your future study.

How are cases of academic misconduct investigated?

There are three categories of investigation for suspected breaches of academic misconduct.

Minor cases

If a student at an early stage in their academic journey shows poor academic practice, the breach will be dealt with at a programme or departmental level. You will be provided with feedback and learning opportunities around good academic practice.

Major cases

Major cases include collusion, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, exam cheating and repeat instances of poor academic practice. This will be dealt with at an institutional level. If you are eligible for reassessment, the reassessed work will be capped at 40%. If you are not eligible for reassessment, you will fail the component or module in accordance with the Assessment Regulations.

Severe cases

Severe cases include contract cheating, large-group collusion or cheating and large-scale falsification of data. This will be dealt with through an assessment disciplinary panel, which will decide the outcome of the case. The default penalty for proven severe cases is normally failure of the course. If this happens, you will have an immediate right to appeal the outcome.

For more information, please visit our Academic Misconduct Policy 24/25 and Academic Misconduct Policy 23/24.