LCM values a culture of honesty and mutual trust (academic integrity) and expects all members of the College to respect and uphold these core values. Cheating, a form of academic malpractice includes: cheating in examinations, plagiarism, duplication and false declaration. It is an academic offence for a candidate to commit any act designed to obtain for him or herself an unfair advantage with a view to achieving a higher grade or mark than he/she would otherwise secure. Any attempt to convey deceitfully the impression of acquired knowledge, skills, understanding, or credentials may constitute grounds for exclusion.
Occurs when: a candidate communicates, or attempts to communicate, with a fellow candidate or individual who is neither an invigilator or member of staff; copies, or attempts to copy from a fellow candidate; attempts to introduce or consult during the examination, any unauthorised printed or written material, or electronic calculating or information storage device; or mobile phones or other communication device, or personates or allows himself or herself to be impersonated.
Plagiarism involves the unacknowledged use by student of someone else's work, usually in coursework, and passing it off as if it were his/her own. This category of cheating includes the following Collusion, where a piece of work prepared by a group is represented as if it were the student's own Commissioning or use of work by the student which is not his/her own and representing it as if it were purchase of a paper from a commercial service, including internet sites, whether pre-written or specially prepared for the student concerned Submission of a paper written by another person, either by a fellow student or a person who is not a member of the college Duplication of the same or almost identical work for more than one module The act of copying or paraphrasing a paper from a source text, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, without appropriate acknowledgement Submission of another student's work, whether with or without that student's knowledge or consent
Use of Electronic devices in Exam:
The use in examinations of electronic calculators and other portable micro computing and
electronic devices (hereafter shortened to 'electronic devices') will only be allowed when
permission has been granted by the appropriate department, subject (where appropriate) to the
approval of the External Examiner(s) and prior consultation with those students taking the
course. Any change in a college's regulations for the use of electronic devices in examinations
shall be announced well in advance.
Use of smart mobile phone: 1. Electronic devices, where permitted, must be of the hand-held type, quiet in operation, compact and having their own power supply. External or user-written programs, or storage media, and/or instruction manuals may not normally be taken into the examination room and students must be able to demonstrate that internal user storage has been cleared before the start of the examination. Candidates shall be entirely responsible for ensuring that their electronic devices are in good working order (e.g. fully charged), and for making alternative provision (e.g. slide rule) in case the instrument should fail. 2. Where required by the College, and so indicated on the examination question paper, candidates shall state the make and model of their electronic device on the examination script. 3. In setting questions for examinations in which candidates may use their own electronic devices Examiners should take careful account of the different potentialities of such devices, and require candidates to show sufficient intermediate calculations to demonstrate that they understand what they 'are calculating. 4. Candidates shall not be allowed to borrow electronic devices from each other during examinations.
1. If a student is suspected of an academic offence, the invigilator shall at once inform The Principal or Academic Coordinator who will immediately go to the examination venue to investigate. The student will be permitted to continue the particular examination in which he/she is suspected of malpractice, but the invigilator will request that the student remains behind at 4 Malpractice Policy: London College of Media © 2020 (www.londoncollegeofmedia.com) the end of the examination for interview by the Principal, at which a class representative shall be invited to be present and written notes will be made. If after this preliminary interview it is clear that no offence has taken place then the investigating officer(s) shall take no further action. If it is decided to carry out a formal investigation the student shall be informed of this but also told that he/she will be permitted to complete all the examinations he/she would normally take at that stage in his or her course. 2. If the Principal is not sure he/she shall formally notify the student in writing of the charge and inform him/her that the case will be referred to the Academic Board.
The Academic Board shall investigate all cases of alleged examination malpractice referred to it by the College Principal and determine whether an academic offence, has been committed. Procedures of Academic Board The procedures of the Academic Board are as follows: a) All hearings shall be held in private. b) The Board will be convened with all possible speed. Once the time, date and place of its meeting are known the referred student shall be informed in writing: c) That he/she is to be called to a hearing; i. Should be informed for the nature, date and time of the alleged offence; ii. That he/she may present evidence in his or her defence orally at the hearing and/or in writing; iii. That he/she may be accompanied by a friend who will normally be a member of the College; d) The Board shall have the power to adjourn, continue or postpone an investigation at its discretion but shall at all times endeavour to complete its examination of the matter at the earliest opportunity. If the student does not appear on the date and time or at the place appointed, reasonable notice having been given, the Board may proceed to investigate the matter in his or her absence. e) If the student wishes to admit the charge, s/he may do so in writing to the Academic Officer/Course Coordinator. In this event the student will be advised that s/he should still appear before the Board for the formal presentation of evidence by the Principal for examination of the evidence by the Board. f) If the student wishes to deny the charge, s/he shall so inform the Academic Officer/Course Coordinator once notice of the hearing has been received. If no letter of admission is received, it will be assumed that the charge is denied. The Principal will present the case to the Academic Board
Any student found by the Academic Board to be guilty of an academic offence, and whose case is referred to a Board of Examiners, shall have the right to submit to the board a written plea in mitigation but s/he shall not have the right to appear or to be represented by another before the board. Boards of Examiners have absolute discretion to take into account, in making their decisions, such evidence as they may consider relevant to a student's academic performance and to decide whether to call for further oral or written evidence. They may also take into account, but shall not be bound by, the suggestions of the Academic Bo
Prevention of plagiarism in coursework Students Awareness Students shall: (a) be educated about the meaning of plagiarism in coursework and the value of academic integrity; (b) be set appropriate assignments by staff to reduce the likelihood of plagiarism; and (c) be made aware of the penalties available to the College for use in cases of plagiarism. Policy and Guideline’s The policy, criteria and guidelines relating to plagiarism in coursework shall be widely disseminated to all staff and students, particularly at matriculation and at the beginning of each academic ye
The following steps shall be followed in the sequence set out below. The steps may be concluded at any point in the procedure. (i) All academic markers shall make a positive effort to identify possible plagiarism and shall inform their students of the procedures for detection. (ii) The academic markers shall, when suspected plagiarism has been identified, refer the relevant material to the course Coordinator for checking. (iii) The Course Coordinator shall annotate any plagiarized material and shall submit a report, including a hard copy of the source used by the student, to the Academic Coordinator. (iv) The Academic Coordinator shall conduct an investigation of the alleged plagiarism and shall give the student an opportunity to discuss the allegation. (v) The Administrative Office shall report to the Academic Coordinator whether the student concerned has previously been found guilty of academic malpractice. (vi) The Academic Coordinator shall if necessary arrange a meeting of a panel to discuss the allegations further with the student, including any admission of plagiarism, and shall set out the likely penalties. The panel, if convened, shall be chaired by a non-member of the department nominated by the chairperson of the Academic Board and, in addition to the student and the Academic Coordinator, shall include either the academic marker or the course Coordinator, and may include a person nominated by the student as friend who will also act as a member of the panel.
(i) First offence. The Academic Officer shall determine whether action requiring a plagiarism warning has taken place. (ii) Action requiring a plagiarism warning shall be defined as poor referencing, un-attributed quotations, inappropriate paraphrasing, incorrect or incomplete citations, or up to several sentences of direct copying without acknowledgement of the source. The academic marker shall indicate and set aside the sections involving the above problems. (iii) Major first offence plagiarism shall be defined as copying multiple paragraphs in full without acknowledgement of the source, taking essays from the Internet without revealing the source, copying all or much of the work of a fellow student with or without his/her knowledge or consent, and submitting the same piece of work for assessment under multiple modules. The student whose work has been detected as a major first offence shall be required to repeat and resubmit the work, and shall be eligible to receive only the minimum pass mark appropriate to the piece of work. If the student refuses or fails to repeat and resubmit the work, a mark of zero shall be recorded. The student shall in any case receive the appropriate warning letter. (iv) Second Offence: if a second alleged offence has been detected, the Academic Officer shall declare that a mark of zero has been awarded to the piece of work concerned, and that the student has no right of reassessment. The Academic Officer shall in addition send the student the appropriate warning letter, confirming the decision and advising the student of the consequences of any further offence. (v) If the student does not accept the decisions related to first and second offences, he/she shall have the right to appear in person before the Academic Board.
The Academic Board, having considered the evidence for a third offence, shall have the authority to confirm the recommendation for permanent exclusion, or to impose one of the following penalties: (i) To permit the student to repeat the work, subject to receiving only the minimum pass mark appropriate to the piece of work; (ii) To award zero for the work in question; (iii) To award zero for the whole course work or dissertation; (iv) to award zero for the unit or course module; (iv) To award zero as under (iv) and, where the inclusion makes no difference to the class of award, to recommend that one class lower than the one determined by the arithmetic be awarded; (v) To exclude the student permanently from the college, where the offence is detected before the final assessment is completed;