Applying Academic Misconduct Penalties

Where a student is found to be in breach of the University's academic integrity regulations, the Chair of the Academic Misconduct Committee may recommend a proportionate penalty.

Recommendations available to the Chair:

  • That there is no case to answer, and therefore no penalty to be applied. 
  • That a penalty be applied for a first, minor, or significant offence (usually penalties A-C). 
  • That a meeting of the Academic Misconduct Committee be convened to review the evidence of the case and apply a penalty for a serious offence (usually penalties D-E). 

An Academic Misconduct Committee is convened when:

  • a student has committed repeated significant breaches of academic misconduct. 
  • a student commits a serious breach of academic misconduct. 
  • a student has contested the penalty applied (at any level) by the Committee Chair and requests that this be reviewed by all panel members.

List of Penalties

The full list of penalties can be found in Appendix B of Annex 10It may also be helpful to consult Appendix A (Exemplar Offences and Penalties) as a point of reference for discerning proportionate outcomes. 

In all cases, please ensure that the reasoning for the penalty is clearly explained to the student when they are informed of the outcome of their case.

Training Requirements

The Chair of the Academic Misconduct Committee is able to recommend that a student undertake further academic skills training in addition to incurring a penalty from Annex 10.

In instances where students have received a minor or significant penalty, they must complete the Moodle module Understanding & Avoiding Plagiarism (DP1025).


The Chair may also wish to recommend students for a 1:1 Study Skills Appointment with the Student Learning and Advisory Service. These can be booked by students using SLAS CONNECT

It should be made clear to students that academic skills training is not an additional penalty, but instead provides an opportunity to further develop their academic skills and avoid further breaches of academic misconduct in the future. 

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