Academic Misconduct

Academic misconduct involves doing anything that gives you or another student an unfair advantage in an assessment. Below are some of the more common forms of academic misconduct –

• Plagiarism: This is when your work contains the ideas or words of others and acknowledgement is not given. Plagiarism can be large in scale (a whole assignment passed off as your own) or more modest (a few sentences not referenced properly). Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional and the University view both as Academic Misconduct.
   
• Collusion: This occurs when two or more students collaborate on assessed work in a way that is not permitted by the regulations for that assessment. Often this involves multiple students submitting the same piece of work. Sharing your work with another student can also be classed as collusion if it gives that student an unfair advantage.
   
• Cheating: In this context, cheating means ‘any attempt to obtain or to give assistance in an examination or an assessment without due acknowledgement. This can include things like bringing notes into a closed-book exam or attempting to communicate with other students in the exam room.

Academic misconduct would also include personation (pretending to be someone else and sitting their exam, or asking someone to pretend to be you); falsification (inventing or distorting data, evidence, references, citations, or experimental results); and deceit (which can cover any other forms of dishonesty intended to give you an advantage).

The University distinguishes between minor and major academic misconduct; as factors such as the gravity of the offence and the circumstances in which it was committed will be considered in distinguishing severity. The penalty applied in each case will be determined by the staff investigating the case, or the Academic Misconduct Panel.

If you have been accused of academic misconduct, please contact the Advice Service and we may be able to support you through any informal or formal procedures.
 

Useful Resources

UHI Academic Misconduct Policy and Procedure