The Academic Investigations team will arrange a date for your meeting to take place.  Don’t worry, they will take into account your timetable so you won’t miss any teaching and you will have at least seven days’ notice.  We will try to arrange the meeting to take place as soon as possible as we know that this is an anxious time for you. However, the date of the meeting will be affected by matters beyond our control such as the panel members' availability.  

You are expected to attend the panel meeting, and it is particularly important that you do so if the allegation against you is commissioning or collusion. However, if you can’t attend, and have a good reason for this, please let the Academic Investigations team know and they will try and rearrange the meeting, although it’s not always possible. You may be asked to provide evidence of the reason why you cannot attend.

If you can’t attend the meeting, you can write to the panel and set out any information or documents you want them to take into account. We have produced a written response guide which will be sent to you once you indicate that you will not be attending the meeting. More information regarding the implications of not attending the meeting can be found here. 

You should let the panel know if there were particular circumstances which affected you while you were working on the coursework in question. If the panel decide that your work shows evidence of academic misconduct, your circumstances will not excuse this but, as long as you provide satisfactory evidence, the panel can take your situation into account when deciding which penalty to apply.  

The Student Union Advisors are able to attend the meeting with you. If you prefer, you can bring a friend or supporter with you. They must be a member of the University (student or staff). Your supporter cannot speak for you, but can provide support and help you make sure you say everything that you want to at the meeting.

On the day of the meeting, we suggest you find a quiet and private location with a good internet connect. You should arrive a few minutes early so that you can be calm and prepared when it starts and ensure your video and audio are working. If you have any questions beforehand, you can always email the Academic Investigations team who are happy to help, or the Students’ Union advisors if it’s about the details of your case.

Although academic misconduct allegations are taken seriously, the meeting will be quite informal and the panel will try and make it as comfortable as possible for you. Remember, you can ask a Students Union Advisor or a friend who is also a student to accompany you if you want. There will be 3 people from the University in your meeting: a senior academic from your school or department (they will chair the meeting), another academic and someone from the Academic Investigations team who will be taking notes. The academic members of staff will be the ones asking questions and who will make the decision about whether misconduct is proven.

The purpose of the meeting is to make sure you understand the allegation, and to give you the chance to explain what has happened. It can also be a useful opportunity for you to understand more about what constitutes good (and bad) academic practice. We recommend that all students undertake the SS1001: Academic Integrity module on Moodle before attending the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting you will be asked whether you understand the allegation, whether you have attended induction lectures about academic misconduct and completed the SS1001 Academic Integrity Moodle course. Depending on the type of allegation, you will also be asked questions about how you approached your work and whether anyone helped you. You will also be given the chance to ask any questions you have. At the end of the meeting the Chair of the panel will summarise the options and potential penalties.  

If the allegation raised is one of commisisoning, you will be asked questions that help authenticate you as the author of the work. We have produced further guidance for students so that they know what to expect and how to prepare for a panel meeting in these cases. 

Once you have left, the panel has two decisions to make: firstly, is academic misconduct proven on the balance of probabilities (in other words, is it more likely than not to have occurred?); and secondly, if so, what penalty should they impose.  

If the panel find that misconduct has occurred, there are a range of penalties they can impose, from a deduction of 10% from the mark, to failure of the entire module.  The panel’s decision will depend on things like the seriousness of the misconduct, your level of study and, whether there was any obvious intention to cheat.  They will take all these factors into account, as well as any individual circumstances you have disclosed. 

As a guide, typically a first offence of significant, clear plagiarism or duplication will mean that you are given a zero grade for the assignment.  If the panel decides that the plagiarism is not extensive and/or that it was unintentional, you may get a more lenient penalty of a deduction of 10%, or your mark may be capped at the pass mark.  If it is a 'grave' offence e.g. commissioning, or this is not your first offence, your case will be referred to a Pro Vice-Chancellor to make a decision. More information regarding referrals to the Pro Vice-Chancellor can be found here. 

As soon as possible after the meeting, the Academic Investigations team will send you a note summarising the meeting, and you will be asked if you have any comments. Once you have replied you will receive a letter explaining the panel’s decision, the reason for it and the penalty, if any. If you have any questions about what this means for you, you can contact your school helpdesk or your Personal Tutor.

Even if the penalty decided in your case means that you will fail the module, try not to worry. The Board of Examiners will consider your academic record at the end of the year and determine what resit/ repeat options you can be offered, factoring in your other marks, and you will be informed of this when you results are released at the end of the academic year.