QAA advises members on developing fair and equitable academic misconduct processes

QAA is supporting its members to develop fair and equitable academic misconduct processes through new advice. The resource is based on the research published earlier this year by QAA on ‘Approaches to Academic Misconduct and Use of Penalties’.

The guidance is not intended to restrict providers to using particular procedures, but should inform their own systems, allowing them the freedom to make the right decisions in the context of their student cohorts and subjects.

The new publication encompasses a range of important aspects of effective academic misconduct procedures including:

• the role of written policies
• clear categorisation of offences
• the importance of fair investigation processes
• approaches to penalties
• handling appeals.

A glossary of terms commonly used in the context of academic misconduct processes is also included. The advice is available to all QAA Members on our Membership Resources Site. To sign-up, members can complete our simple registration form.

QAA Members can also use this site to access the full research report on QAA Members’ Approaches to Academic Misconduct and Use of Penalties which was published in July. A series of illustrative case studies detailing QAA members’ approaches to academic misconduct penalties and processes will be published in the coming weeks.