Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity is fundamental to studying at University and a guiding principle of academic life. At its most basic, Academic Integrity describes acting with honesty and responsibility in one's own academic work.

Overview

The Academic Integrity policy sets out the standards of behaviour expected from students with respect to academic integrity and the procedures that will be followed if these standards are not met. The Academic Integrity regulations refer to the NTU Quality Handbook Section 17C: Academic Integrity.

Academic integrity is an essential part of your studies and you can demonstrate this through good academic practices by:

using information appropriately
acknowledging what’s your own work, and where ideas or contributions came from other.
not presenting others work as your own, whether that work was produced by a person or machine
conducting research ethically
reporting truthfully on your research
acting in an ethical manner in your academic studies.

NTU defines Academic Integrity as the commitment to, and demonstration of fundamental values and behaviours including honesty, fairness, respect, and responsibility. Failure to abide by the values and behaviours of academic integrity has the potential to give you an unfair advantage in your studies which poses a threat to the academic standards of the University’s qualification, and to the integrity of the qualifications awarded to students who achieve their qualifications by entirely legitimate means.

Anyone not demonstrating academic integrity will be subject to investigation and potential action under this policy.

If you have any queries regarding academic integrity, please contact your School Office in the first instance.

The Academic Integrity Policy has three categories for investigating suspected breaches, which are:

Improving Academic Integrity
Academic Misconduct
Serious Academic Misconduct

If you have a query regarding your Appeal against the decision of a School Academic Integrity Panel, please contact the Policy and Regulations Team in the Academic Registry by email at AcademicIrregularities@ntu.ac.uk.

For independent advice you can contact the Nottingham Trent Students' Union Information & Advice Service.

For additional support you can contact the University's Student Support Services. A wide range of services, including Health and Wellbeing support, is available to all students.

Submit an appeal

You can submit under the three grounds below:

That the University failed to follow the procedures set out in this policy at any stage in the process;
You now have new and relevant evidence that was not available for consideration at an earlier stage in the process; or
The decision was unreasonable in the circumstances or the penalty imposed was disproportionate or not permitted under the penalty framework.

However, we are experiencing technical issues with our portal therefore when submitting your Academic Integrity Appeal, you will only have two options to choose from, we ask that you chose the following;

If you are submitting on ground A or C please use;

A - You believe that there has been an error or irregularity in the assessment process or that one or more of the constituent parts which make up your final outcome are incorrect;

If you are submitting on ground B, please use;

B - That new and relevant material or evidence has become available which was not previously available for consideration by the SAIP [evidence to be provided at the time of submission].

Academic Integrity Procedures FAQs

These Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) are not the procedure and have no legal standing. It is important that you download and read the Quality Handbook Section 17C: Academic Integrity.

What is Academic Integrity?

As defined in the University’s regulations, academic integrity is the commitment to and demonstration of fundamental values and behaviours, including honesty, fairness, respect, and responsibility. (QHS 17C, 3.1).

The University has three categories of academic integrity:

Improving Academic Integrity
Academic Misconduct
Serious Academic Misconduct

The three types of academic integrity are defined within the regulations.

Examples of academic integrity misconduct can be found in detail in Appendix 1 of the regulations. These include but are not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, falsifying data, personation, contract cheating, unreasonable conduct and academic dishonesty.

Where can I find guidance on academic referencing, study skills and demonstrating academic integrity?

You can get support and guidance on using sources appropriately (i.e. academic referencing and citation practices, study skills and demonstrating academic integrity) from the Library's Skills for Success section.

You will also find guides on the Nottingham Online Workspace (NOW) covering referencing, plagiarism, a Turnitin Guide for Students and other study skills such as academic writing and revision. You can access these guides in the Student Help area.

What is Turnitin?

Turnitin is plagiarism detection software. The University normally runs student assessments through Turnitin or other plagiarism detection software.

There is information on Turnitin and how to use it at the Library, and in the Student Help area of NOW.

What is improving academic integrity?

You may be required to undertake activity to improve your academic integrity. This is most often used to manage more limited, potentially accidental forms of poor academic practice, which might include:

a lack of understanding of scholarly practice and appropriate academic attribution, such as unattributed quotations, limited paraphrasing, reproducing an existing concept or idea unintentionally, missing or incorrect citations, paragraphs of word-for-word copying without source acknowledgement, unacknowledged help with linguistic components of assessments, reproducing an existing creative output or design, work that is overly derivative in terms of form, content or presentations, or unacknowledged use of digital resources in any form;
violations of the NTU Turnitin policy.

If it is identified that you need to improve your academic integrity, you will be invited to attend a discussion with your Personal Tutor, or nominee, at which you will have the opportunity to respond to the points raised and to agree to a support plan which might include, but is not limited to;

engaging with developmental materials;
undertaking an academic practice development course provided by the School or a Professional Service; and/or
a referral to Student Support Services.

The improving academic integrity activity is designed to support you in improving your academic practice in future assessments.

What is Serious Academic Misconduct?

Serious academic misconduct is determined either by the extent of the misconduct, evidence of clear intent to deceive or gain an substantial advantage, or where there is a second allegation of non-concurrent Academic Misconduct, having previously had an upheld outcome.

Where a case is determined to be serious academic misconduct, either at the outset or as a result of an academic misconduct investigation, a panel of independent academic colleagues is formed to investigate, and you will be invited to attend a Serious Academic Misconduct Hearing.

At the hearing you will be given the opportunity to discuss the allegations of misconduct and to present any evidence you may have. The Panel may ask questions and to seek verification of any evidence presented.

Outcomes are determined on the balance of probabilities. The panel will determine one of the following outcomes:

not upheld as there is no case to answer;
not upheld and deemed to be a case of Improving Academic Integrity;
not upheld and deemed to be a case of Academic Misconduct;
admitted and upheld;
not admitted and upheld.

See Section 9 of the Quality Handbook Section 17C: Academic Integrity for further details of outcomes.

The following are the penalties that may be applied in cases of upheld serious academic misconduct. In all cases of upheld serious academic misconduct, the assessment is deemed to have failed. Where reassessment is permitted by the Board of Examiners, this will be at the next available opportunity.

Penalty	Reassessment
Overall module grade is capped at zero	Reassessment may be permitted by the Board of Examiners, where appropriate. If passed at reassessment the credit for the module will be awarded in recognition of the achievement of the learning outcomes but a zero-module grade is recorded, regardless of the grades achieved in any other elements/sub-elements of assessment.
Placement Certificate / Diploma is not awarded	Reassessment or retaking of the placement is not permitted.
No credit given for the module (including credit bearing placement modules)	Reassessment is not permitted. It will not be possible to achieve the credit required for the award. A suitable interim award will be determined, where applicable.
Termination of studies	Reassessment is not permitted. The final award will not be achieved and a suitable interim award will be determined, where applicable.

I've been invited to a Academic Misconduct investigation meeting or Panel. What should I do?

If you have been invited to attend an investigation meeting or panel to discuss an allegation of academic misconduct against your work, and you would like more information on the process, please contact your School in the first instance. The appropriate person to advise you might be your Course Leader, Personal Tutor, or School Administrator.

For independent advice you can contact the Nottingham Trent Students' Union Information & Advice Service.

For additional support you can contact the University's Student Support Services. A wide range of services, including Health and Wellbeing support, is available to all students.

How do I appeal the outcome decision?

You can appeal the outcome of an academic misconduct or serious academic misconduct investigation but you will need to be clear on:

The grounds on which you are appealing
The outcome you are seeking

There are three grounds for appeal. You can select one or more:

That the University failed to follow the procedures set out in this policy at any stage in the process;
You now have new and relevant evidence that was not available for consideration at an earlier stage in the process; or
The decision was unreasonable in the circumstances or the penalty imposed was disproportionate or not permitted under the penalty framework.

There are no other grounds on which an Academic Integrity Appeal will be considered.

Please submit your appeal via the Academic Integrity Appeals tab of the Appeals Portal. You have five working days from the date on your outcome letter to submit an appeal.

You must clearly outline the reasons for your appeal, the grounds you are appealing on and submit any supporting evidence you have. Appeals without a clear explanation of grounds or where no new evidence has been provided alongside the submission will be rejected.

Find out how to submit your appeal on our academic appeals page.

I need some advice about Academic Integrity. Who can I contact?

If an allegation of academic integrity or misconduct has been made against you and you have been invited to a meeting or panel, or if you would like to appeal the outcome decision and you would like more information on the process, please contact your School in the first instance. The appropriate person to advise you might be your Course Leader, Personal Tutor, or School Administrator.

For independent advice you can contact the Nottingham Trent Students' Union Information & Advice Service.

For additional support you can contact the University's Student Support Services. A wide range of services, including Health and Wellbeing support, is available to all students.

I submitted an Academic Integrity Appeal. What happens next?

Your application will be investigated by Academic Registry. Academic Registry is a central department in the University which operates independently of your School.

During the investigation, we may contact you if we need further information from you. If this occurs, please note that your appeal will be on hold until we receive a response from you.