Penalties & procedures
Cases of suspected plagiarism are taken very seriously by the University and are subject to a set of formal procedures and penalties.
Overview of the procedures for Taught Students
Key points:
- All plagiarism related offences (however minor) are reported to the Office of academic appeals and regulation and a record is made in the student file.
- Schools have the authority to deal with minor, first, uncontested plagiarism cases locally without referring to the Committee on applications.
- Students are advised to seek advice from the LUU Student Advice Centre for support throughout this process.
Please note that research students are subject to a different set of procedures detailed in the Research Student Handbook.
Staff are advised to immediately contact their Director of Learning & Teaching if they encounter any cases of suspected plagiarism.
Overview of the penalities
There are a range of penalties that can be applied in cases of plagiarism. The penalty is chosen either by the School or the Committee on Applications and will depend on the seriousness of the offence and on whether there are any mitigating circumstances.
Example penalties are:
- Only the sections of the assignment determined not to be plagiarised are marked.
- Assignment is resubmitted for zero marks.
- Academic year is failed and must be retaken.
- Student is excluded from the University.
A comprehensive list of possible penalties is available on the Office of academic appeals & regulation web site.
The seriousness of the offence is related to issues such as:
- Whether the student has committed offences previously.
- The magnitude of the plagiarism.
- The number of marks and the level of the assignment involved.
Links to related resources
Leeds University Union Student Advice Centre:
Office of academic appeals & regulation (OAAR)
- The official procedures covering cheating and plagiarism
- The range of penalties that can be applied.
