PLEASE USE DEPARTMENT HEADER

Our Ref: SRN

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

Title, Initial, Surname

Address

Also by e mail to College email and any personal email

Date, Month, Year

Dear Title, Surname

Re: Allegation of an Assessment Offence

I am writing to inform you of the outcome of the investigation into the allegation of plagiarism/collusion/duplication (delete as appropriate)made in relation to insert details of the work in question e.g: an essay on… you submitted for the course insert course code and title>.

Decision

It has been concluded that the piece(s) of work in question contain(s) plagiarised/duplicated(delete as appropriate)material insert details/ that you colluded with another student/ third party, specifically ……...

Penalty to be applied

Select one of the following:

(1)The Panelhas decided in line with Section 6 (4) (a) of the Regulations on Academic Misconduct 2017/18,that your work contains sufficient evidence to satisfy the requirements to pass. It has therefore been decided:

Select as appropriate one of the following

  1. Reduce the mark for piece of assessment by 10 percentage marks; OR
  2. Cap the mark for the piece of assessment at a minimum Pass; OR
  3. Award a mark of zero for the piece of assessment;OR
  4. Award a mark of zero for the course as a whole.

OR

(2) It has been decided to assign a mark of zero for the <insert detail>as you have not satisfied the requirements to pass (Section 6 (4) (b) of the Regulations on Academic Misconduct 2017/18)

(In the case of group work note the provision of Section 6 (4) (c) )

For (1) and (2) only add this paragraph: You have the right to appeal against the penalty imposed but only on the grounds listed under Section 9(1) of the Regulations on Academic Misconduct 2017/18. The appeal must be submitted on an Appeal Form to , within 15 working days of the date of this letter. The Appeal Form and guidance on the appeal process is available here:

(3) A penalty has not yet been applied. As the implications of the offence are grave/as multiple instances of plagiarism/collusion/other assessment offences have been identified more or less simultaneously across a number of course units/as data has been falsified/as substantial parts of the assessment or entire assessment are not your own work and have been copied and/or purchased (select as appropriate)it has been decided to refer the matter to the Vice-Principal (Section 6 (4) (d) of the Regulations on Academic Misconduct 2017/18). An Assistant Registrar will be in contact with you in due course.

Please ensure that you explain to students the impact of the penalty appliede.g a failure of an assessment weighted at 80% will result in an overall failure of the course

In relation to para (3) please ensure that if a referral is being made to the Vice-Principal for a finalist in the summer term that the following paragraph is included in the letter:

Please note that your final marks and degree classification cannot be confirmed until such time as the Vice-Principal has considered the offence and you have been notified of the penalty to be applied. In certain circumstances it may not be possible for the Vice-Principal to give a decision before the College’s summer graduation ceremonies. Should this be the case, and you have not been notified by letter of the Vice-Principal’s final decision, you may not be eligible to attend your graduation ceremony. Even if you are eligible to attend, your name may not be included on the roll of graduands.

Yours sincerely

Chair of the Academic Misconduct Panel

cc.

Head of Department/School

Department/School Manager, <insert Department/School

Head of Student Administration (for central file)

<Other Department/ School where Joint or Minor – must send to Department Manager or PG Administrator to pass onto the Academic Co-ordinator or Programme Director as appropriate>