Skip to Main Content

BU Policies and Procedures

Academic Offences

Bournemouth University upholds values and principles in academic standards and regards any type of academic misconduct as a serious offence. BU is obligated to meet certain academic standards and as such, BU students are responsible in ensuring that all submitted work meets the academic expectations as required within the assessment brief. It is your responsibility to be aware of academic offences and avoid committing them. The BU definitions of academic offences and the penalties for them are listed in Academic Offences: Policy and Procedure for Taught Awards

The brief outline below highlights some of the key areas of BU’s policies and procedures with regards to academic offences and explains some of the more common offences to help ensure you do not unknowingly commit an offence

What is an Academic Offence?

An academic offence may be defined as any attempt by a student to gain an unfair advantage in any assessed work (including practice assessments) by deception or fraudulent means. Helping another student to commit an academic offence is an academic offence in itself. Academic offences involving fraud may also fall within the scope of the Student Disciplinary Procedure. The definition of an academic offence assumes dishonest intent (rather than a lack of competence on the part of a student; for example, the use of extensive quotations, even if references are cited). An academic offence often includes:

  • plagiarism, where students represent another person’s work as their own, or use another person’s work without acknowledgement, or duplication (‘self-plagiarism’) where they use material that has already been submitted for assessment
  • buying material or paying another person to complete an assignment, or using editors, translators or proof-readers who contribute significantly to the content
  • using artificial intelligence software to write all or part of an assignment and claiming the work as your own
Are all Academic Offences the same?

All academic offences are serious, and they are determined based on the nature and severity of the offence, as either minor faculty offence, major faculty offence or University level offence (and can progress between these levels through the process) If you commit a minor offence you may be required to resubmit work, with your mark being capped at the pass mark. For major offences you may have to repeat the year or even be withdrawn from the course.The following factors will be taken into consideration when determining whether a suspected offence should be treated as minor, major or university level:

  • the extent of the academic offence. For example, a piece of work which has 31% or more of unreferenced material within it will be regarded as a major academic offence, whereas limited failure to acknowledge sources or citation within a piece of work may be regarded as a minor academic offence. The relative contribution of the assessment to the overall student profile is not a relevant issue. For example, cheating will not be condoned simply because the weighting of the assessment is not significant in terms of the overall credits available
  • the extent of premeditated intention to deceive or otherwise gain advantage through deception or fraudulent means. For example, the evidence may suggest that the student has been sophisticated in their use of unattributed material, attempting to change minor aspects of plagiarised text to give the impression that it is their own work
  • contract cheating is always deemed a University level offence, even if this is a student’s first offence and the full range of penalties are available in this instance
What are the Penalties?

Typical penalties that may be applied by an academic offences panel or board, depending on the severity of the offence, include:

  • a written warning
  • a requirement to resubmit work, re-sit an examination, repeat a unit or a level
  • a mark of 0% or a capped mark for an assessment, unit or level
  • withdrawing a student from their course, in some cases without any credit
Where can I find more Information?

Resources for referencing, avoiding plagiarism, avoiding academic offenses and so forth can be found on our LibGuides. The BU Student Learning Guide which is given to students who are found to have committed an academic offence or poor academic practice also has helpful information and SUBU advice can be used by students who have or are suspected of having committed an academic offence. Finally, the Academic Offences Policy and Procedure for Taught Awards also contains key information

What happens if I am suspected of an Academic Offence?

If your Unit or Programme Leader have concerns about your work this will be considered as part of a preliminary investigation as described in the Academic Offences Policy and Procedure. Should the outcome be that you are suspected of an Academic Offence you will receive and email about this explaining what you will need to do next. Students are advised contact SUBU Advice, who can offer support (email subuadvice@bournemouth.ac.uk, telephone 01202 965779, website http://www.subu.org.uk/advice)