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CASE SUMMARIES

Academic misconduct - CS022305

Case summary February 2023 | Justified

A student was suspected of academic misconduct in an online examination. The log-in records showed that the student completed the assessment in less than 4 minutes. Some other students who completed the assessment also took a very short time. These students admitted that they had received information about the questions in the assessment from their peers who had chosen to access it at an earlier time within the permitted window. The information had been shared in a WhatsApp group.

Academic misconduct - CS022310

Case summary February 2023 | Not Justified

A student was studying a taught postgraduate programme and had to take an open book exam for one module. After the exam, the provider told the student that it was investigating them for contract cheating. The student was suspected of uploading some questions from the exam to a website, asking for answers from other users. The student admitted that they had posted a question but said they didn’t look at the answers. They said they had some difficult personal circumstances at the time that had affected their judgment.

Academic misconduct - CS022311

Case summary February 2023 | Partly Justified

A student was on a taught postgraduate programme and had to take an 24-hour open-book exam for one module. Following the exam, the provider told the student that it was investigating them for contract cheating.

Academic misconduct - CS022301

Case summary February 2023 | Justified

A student was found to have committed academic misconduct in their re-sit attempt in a taught postgraduate module. The provider applied a penalty from its standard table of penalties, that the module mark would be set at zero with a reassessment attempt if that were allowed by the regulations for the course.

Academic misconduct - CS022302

Case summary February 2023 | Partly Justified

A postgraduate student was suspected of plagiarism and poor academic practice in two essays submitted in the previous academic year.

Academic misconduct - CS022306

Case summary February 2023 | Partly Justified

A PhD student carried out a research study with patients in a healthcare setting outside the UK. The student obtained relevant ethical approval from the provider. But when their work was submitted for examination, a concern was raised about whether appropriate local approval had been obtained. The provider began a research misconduct investigation. It concluded that relevant ethical approval procedures had not been carried out, and accordingly made a finding of research misconduct.

Academic misconduct - CS022309

Case summary February 2023 | Not Justified

A student was suspected of contract cheating in their coursework submission by presenting material that they had bought online as their own work.

Pregnancy, parenthood and childcare - CS072202

Case summary July 2022 | Partly Justified

A student made a request for additional consideration because their partner was due to give birth in the week that a piece of assessed work was due.

Pregnancy, parenthood and childcare - CS072203

Case summary July 2022 | Partly Justified

A student completed the first semester in the academic year before stepping off the course to have a baby. They discussed their return to study in advance with the student support team and planned to resume some of the year-long modules that they had begun.