Academic Integrity                

Academic Integrity centers on the importance for respect, honesty and accountability in academic matters. Students at BMI are bound to the following standards to facilitate the maintenance of academic standards.

Introduction
Business Management Institute considers the acts of plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, and falsification as academic malpractice. As such, where proven, it is subject to the implementation, in the first instance, of academic procedures.

Definition of ‘Plagiarism’
‘The reproduction or paraphrasing, without acknowledgement, from public or private (i.e. unpublished) material attributable to, or which is the intellectual property of another, including the work of students.’

The college recognises that plagiarism may be of written and also non-written form and therefore this regulation covers all assessment, which includes the following:
Essays, dissertations, reports, projects, tutorial work, journals, etc.

Definition of ‘Cheating’
‘Acting dishonestly, before, during or after an assessment or examination in such a way as to seek to gain unfair advantage or assist another student to do so.’

Fabrication
Inventing or falsifying any information in an academic exercise.

Falsification
The intentional or unintentional falsification of academic records or any official Institute document.

Procedures for cases of suspected plagiarism, cheating, fabrication or falsification for all assessment and exams are governed by those guidelines set down by the awarding institute or body.

In-House Assessment

If during the marking process a marker/examiner suspects a case of plagiarism, or if there is suspicion that an act of cheating or any form of academic dishonesty may have occurred, the marker/examiner shall cease the marking process for the assessment item.

1. In the case of suspected plagiarism the marker/examiner shall check whether or not the assessment item carries a disclaimer statement signed by the student concerned and whether or not advice about appropriate referencing and/or avoiding plagiarism was given to students.
2. The marker/examiner shall prepare a brief report noting the extent of suspected plagiarism or cheating in the assessment item and any details arising from discussion with the Academic Director.
3. The brief report on suspected plagiarism or cheating and the affected assessment item shall be forwarded as soon as convenient to the Academic Director.
4. The Academic Director shall decide in consultation with other members of the Academic Board whether or not further procedures need to be followed.
5. If the Director decides not to pursue the matter further then a note must be made at the next programme review meeting. The affected assessment item must be marked in accordance with the given marking scheme.
6. If the Director decides to pursue the matter further then a meeting with the student concerned must be held.
7. The student must be advised that a meeting is to be held to investigate the suspected case of plagiarism, cheating, fabrication or falsification and that the student will be asked to offer an explanation to the assembled parties. The student will be allowed to attend the meeting if they so wish. The reporting lecturer will outline the reasons for suspicion, and where appropriate the extent of the dishonesty in the assessment item. The student will be able to respond. The academic committee will consider in private the facts of the case as presented. The student will be informed in writing of the outcome of the sub-group decision, including the imposition of any marking penalties. The Academic Board will record the outcome of the decision.
8. Penalties that may be applied in cases where it is established that academic dishonesty has been committed shall differ in severity dependent on the extent and nature of the dishonesty ascertained.
9. For all cases of academic dishonesty the assessment item so affected shall be marked disregarding all sections/parts that are plagiarised or which contain an element of plagiarised material. Only the actual work of the student concerned shall be awarded marks in accordance with the given marking scheme.
10. In the severest cases of academic dishonesty (including multiple cases for the student concerned) it may be determined that the imposition of programme termination or deprivation of the award is required.
11. Penalties that may be applied in cases where it is established that academic dishonesty has been committed shall include:
• Reducing the mark for the specific assessment or examination to zero
• Failure in the unit
• Failure in the year as a whole
• Termination of programme.

If a student wishes to raise an appeal against a decision relating to plagiarism or cheating, then the student must raise the appeal with the college. Click here for the appeals procedure.

Note:
If academic dishonesty is suspected in a formative assessment item (i.e. one that does not count towards final classification or progression) then the Academic Director needs to notify the student concerned of the way in which the College views academic dishonesty. No particular penalties or series of procedures needs to be followed, but the serious nature of the dishonesty will be made clear to the student.