Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

Assessing cases of Plagiarism and other forms of Academic Misconduct

This page is designed to help you know what to do when you have a suspected case of Plagiarism or other form of Academic Misconduct. See Preventing Plagiarism for tips on how to spot when plagiarism may be occurring. This page is not designed to describe the process of conducting a formal investigation as that process is described in the Student Disciplinary Statute and elsewhere.

What is Academic Integrity?

Academic integrity encompasses intellectual honesty with regard to the use of information and in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. It implies a commitment to the core values of:

Honesty: An Academic Community of Integrity advances the quest for truth and knowledge by requiring intellectual and personal honesty in learning, teaching, research and service.

Trust: An Academic Community of Integrity fosters a climate of mutual trust, encourages the free exchange of ideas, and enables all to reach their highest potential.

Fairness: An Academic Community of Integrity establishes clear standards, practices and procedures and expects fairness in the interactions of students, teachers and administrators.

Respect: An Academic Community of Integrity recognises the participatory nature of the learning process and honours and respects a wide range of opinions and ideas.

Responsibility: An Academic Community of Integrity upholds personal accountability and depends upon action in the face of wrongdoing.

Academic Dishonesty

Means any behaviours, including Cheating and Plagiarism and any other Academic Misconduct, that constitute dishonest academic practices. Staff should refer to the Academic Integrity Procedure for more information.

Suspected Academic Misconduct – Staff actions

Where a Staff Member identifies an incident of Academic Misconduct they must consider whether the incident actually amounts to measure of Prohibited Conduct as described in the Student Disciplinary Statute. If the Staff Member believes that the incident does meet the measure, they must submit a report with the allegation of Prohibited Conduct against the Student/s in writing to the relevant Head of School (HoS) or Academic Programme Manager (APM), or other relevant manager.

In considering whether the incident amounts to Prohibited Conduct the Staff Member should take all relevant circumstance of the alleged incident into account e.g. the nature, intent, impact, context and seriousness of the conduct. For the avoidance of doubt, Academic Misconduct does not include honest errors or honest differences in the interpretation of data or conclusions drawn.

Actions to be taken by the Grade Approval Committee

If an investigation of Academic Misconduct is active at the time of Grade Approval, the student will be given a DEF grade until such time as the final decision is made with regard to the outcome of the investigation.

There are specific requirements for formal Examinations. Post-graduate Programme Regulations also contain some specific requirements regarding academic misconduct.

Preventing Plagiarism – for PAQCs and APMs to consider

See the NZQA guidance Effective practice in preventing and detecting academic fraud and the Nest page on Preventing Plagiarism.

Useful Resources

Preventing Plagiarism

Moodle Support

Course: TCD – Teaching Competencies Home Page (unitec.ac.nz)

Relevant Policies and Procedure

Academic Integrity Procedure

Student Disciplinary Statute

Examinations Regulations

NZQA Guidance

Effective practice in preventing and detecting academic fraud