I. Purpose

1. The purpose of this policy is to issue a common approach and procedure in dealing with potential breaches in Academic Misconduct and Maladministration for all staff and students.

II. Scope

1. The following policy document will apply to all enrolled students, members of the community and staff. When appropriate, previous students of the college may be under scrutiny if their malpractice occurred whilst at the college.
2. The scope of this document will cover any member of the college of whom seeks to prosper via unfair or injudicious activities.

III. Academic Integrity

1. The academic integrity principles bestowed upon students of the college must be upheld in order to remain a part of the college.
2. Academic Integrity ensures that a student’s work is original and completed according to the guidelines of the task and the policies of the college. Thus, all submissions must reflect the efforts and knowledge of the student themselves. All students must follow the principals of academic integrity, which involves following the plagiarism policy, avoiding cheating and misconduct and holding themselves to a high academic standard.
3. It is the duty and responsibility of the student to ensure that they uphold these standards, and avoid any collusion, plagiarism or cheating.

Academic Misconduct

1. Academic Misconduct involves any action, whether intentional, neglectful or unknown that impacts the integrity of their work. This may include, and is not limited to; cheating in examinations, plagiarism, collusion, duplication, copying, stealing of original work or incorrect referencing.
2. Research Misconduct includes the following breaches academic integrity;
3. Fabrication, falsifying or altering the outcomes of research reports
4. Unethical collection of research data or information which may result in unreasonable harm to the subject
5. Conflicts of interest that are not made apparent to the college
6. Research misconduct does not include inconsequential or inadvertent errors that were of honest authenticity.
7. Poor Academic Procedure results from the lack thereof or inability of the student to enforce the correct rules of academic integrity, such as failure to meet the rules of suitable academic writing. Poor academic practices are unlikely to meet a level of significance as that of academic misconduct and are thus treated accordingly. This will likely be taken to account throughout the grading process. Poor academic procedure may include and is not limited to; copied concepts without correct referencing, references that are misspelled or include multiple grammatical errors and/or references included in a bibliography but not referred to in-text.

V. Maladministration

1. Maladministration involves any action, whether intentional, neglectful or unknown that results in non-compliance of any policy documents and regulations that are outlined by the college. Maladministration, unlike malpractice, may be accidental or the result of ineptitude. Maladministration may include but is not limited to; continual inability to meet student administration requirements, such as registration or certification, falsifying certification documents or qualifications, withholding information required for procedural processes of the college.

VI. Detection of Academic Misconduct and Maladministration.

In the instance of suspected academic misconduct, an examiner or staff member will make an initial assessment and may implement one of the following procedures;

1. Assess the complaint made and determine the gravity of the breach
2. Utilise the services of Turnitin to determine the extent of misconduct
3. From there, the college may mark the submission accounting for the breach of misconduct and be penalised accordingly
4. The student may receive a mark of zero

VII. Procedures to be followed if Academic Misconduct or Maladministration is suspected

1. If cheating is suspected in an examination, the college will be informed immediately by the invigilator or through a member of staff
2. In the case of maladministration, a student may be penalised through their work for their inability to produce the documents or information required by the college
3. In the case of unauthorised materials in an examination, the invigilator maintains the right to confiscate these items for the duration of the exam and report their possession to the college.
4. If academic misconduct is a repetitive and/or a major incident, the student will face further ramifications. These may include investigation into the student’s position at the college, a board review and possible expulsion from the institution.
5. In the instance of contract cheating, the student will be given the opportunity to prove that they did not commission work from another body, and they produced the work, reading and research under their own accord. If they cannot prove this, then the college has the right to enforce disciplinary action.

VIII. Student Rights

1. All students who face disciplinary action or are accused of academic misconduct or malpractice have the right to procedural fairness.
2. The college must follow the procedures outlined in this document when handling allegations.
3. The student must be completely aware of the allegations made against them in thorough detail so that they have ample opportunity to react and respond.
4. The student must be given time to react and respond, and any issues should be dealt with in due course.
5. Any matters or allegations must be approached fairly and impartially.
6. If the student has an queries or concerns these must be responded to by the college in a timely manner.