Case Summaries

Postgraduate students - CS062405

Case summary June 2024 | Partly Justified

An international MSc student was withdrawn from their course after admitting to plagiarism in multiple coursework assessments. The student appealed against their withdrawal explaining that they were under pressure to perform well, and that because both their partner and their child had been unwell, their partner had been unable to offer them any support. They also explained they felt unable to openly discuss their concerns with anyone.

The provider rejected the student’s appeal noting that they had not provided supporting evidence to explain why they didn’t disclose details of their personal circumstances at the relevant time, or earlier in the academic misconduct process.

The student complained to us. We partly upheld their complaint (we decided it was Partly Justified). We acknowledged that the student had experienced difficult circumstances but we concluded that it was reasonable for the provider to reject the student’s appeal because they hadn’t properly demonstrated why they couldn’t disclose their circumstances at an earlier stage.

But we were concerned that the provider had not properly explained why the penalty it applied was proportionate. It was also unable to demonstrate that it had considered the range of lesser penalties available to it under its academic misconduct procedure. This was not in line with guidance set out in the Good Practice Framework: Disciplinary Procedures and meant that we could not be satisfied that the penalty applied was reasonable.

We recommended that the provider offer to reconsider whether the penalty applied was appropriate, and whether any lesser penalties might be appropriate, providing reasons for its decision. We also recommended that the provider review its approach to penalties to ensure that sufficient reasons are provided when sanctions are imposed.