Academic Misconduct refers to the breaches of rules of academic integrity which can be committed by students, the standards under which academic work for assessment are governed by policy or custom. This may include contract cheating; generative artificial intelligence use; plagiarism; and self-plagiarism, amongst other breaches.

Poor Academic Practice is a lesser classification of academic misconduct available for very minor issues in coursework only, and available once to undergraduate students in their first two semesters and postgraduate students in their first semester of study.

Minor Misconduct is less serious academic misconduct which have the following correlating penalties (or a combination of them):

1. Reduction of the mark for the examination, down to and including a mark of zero; or not marking the examination, thus giving it a mark of zero
2. Reduction of the student’s final grade for the course by up to three grade steps.
3. An oral or written reprimand

Major misconduct is more serious academic misconduct. If a student is found to have committed major academic misconduct, it will be referred to the Discipline Committee for a hearing at a later date. This comes with more serious consequences, but major misconduct findings are generally reserved for students with a history of misconduct, or egregious breaches of integrity such as contract cheating.

Discipline Committee is the Committee which hears and decides on allegations of major academic misconduct and general misconduct. It is a subcommittee of the Senate. Please refer to the information page written on this Committee.

‘NAX’ (not available) means that your grade for that course has been finalised, but something is happening behind the scenes which means it cannot be entered yet. It is possible that this means your exam for that course has been flagged for potential academic misconduct. You will receive an email from the Assessment Services or the Academic Quality Office if that is the case.

Academic Heads are the managers of academic staff and academic decisions for a particular school or department. They have the first prerogative to hear and investigate any complaints about courses or academic staff in their school/department.

The Academic Integrity Management System is a confidential record of all incidents of academic misconduct. The only staff who may request a student’s name to be checked on it are the Assessment Services/Academic Quality Office staff during an academic misconduct investigation. This is because a prior history of academic misconduct will usually mean a more severe penalty the second time around. It does not appear on your academic transcript and cannot be seen by employers or other staff members at the University. Some professional registration bodies (such as those for lawyers or doctors) may request disclosure of an academic misconduct record.

You can apply for these for exams or tests here. Remember that they will require you to demonstrate temporary, unforeseen circumstances outside of your control which negatively impaired your performance and/or preparation in the exam or test. Generally, you have to have submitted sufficient coursework, especially invigilated coursework such as tests, to indicate you were able to pass the course. There is a strict 7-day deadline from the date of the exam to submit your application. If you are unable to collect the required evidence in that timeframe, submit your application anyway as you will have a further opportunity to submit this evidence later (it may be declined at first, but then you have additional time to appeal with your evidence). Please note that aegrotats/compassionate considerations do not work like a “grade bump” and you should still attend your test or exam if at all possible.