Each university has its own distinct set of disciplinary policies and procedures. Please use the links below to reveal the information of interest.
Links to procedures and policies
- General misconduct: Student Disciplinary Procedure
- Academic misconduct
Precautionary / interim measures?
Precautionary measures may include:
- imposing conditions such as no-contact agreements,
- requiring students to move accommodation,
- suspension from studies,
- temporary exclusion from all or part of university campuses or facilities, or
- considering any other actions relevant to the alleged incident.
Approach to police involvement?
The University recognises their responsibility to comply with the law, and, where necessary, to cooperate with the appropriate agencies in any investigations into alleged criminal activity on the campus.
The University will not normally take any action (except to mitigate risk) against a student in respect of any alleged offence which breaches criminal law and on which police action is under consideration, in hand or pending.
On receiving a report that a student is under police investigation or is subject to criminal proceedings, the Student Conduct and Complaints Officer will inform the Head of Student Conduct and Complaints or nominee who will undertake any immediate action to mitigate risk and then submit a Risk Assessment to the Risk Management Panel.
Following completion of police enquiries and criminal proceedings, any disciplinary action will consider any penalties imposed by the courts or by the police.
The decision on whether and when to commence disciplinary proceedings is likely to depend on several considerations which may include the following:
- The seriousness of the alleged offence(s)
- The outcome of the criminal proceedings
- Where appropriate, the wishes of both the victim(s) and the offender(s)
- Where appropriate, the availability of the alleged offender(s)
The University may receive a report of sexual misconduct alongside any police investigations or judicial proceedings. In the interest of not impeding these proceedings, the University will not normally commence an internal investigation and may suspend any ongoing investigation. In all instances the University will take any necessary precautionary action.
A decision by the Police or Crown Prosecution Service (or other law enforcement agency) to take no further action in relation to a criminal matter or an acquittal at a trial does not preclude the University from acting and does not mean the Reporting Student has made a vexatious or malicious report
In all cases, the Reporting Student will be informed that an internal investigation is focussed exclusively on whether a breach of the University’s Student Discipline Procedure has occurred. The internal process cannot therefore be regarded as a substitute for a Police investigation or criminal prosecution.
Where a student has been convicted of a criminal offence or accepts a Police caution in relation to behaviour that falls within the scope of the University’s Student Discipline Procedure, the conviction/caution will be taken as conclusive evidence that the behaviour took place, and no further investigation shall be required by the University (except for any necessary precautionary action).
Right to be represented?
General misconduct
All students involved in the investigation process have the right to attend any meetings accompanied for support by a member of the University community, such as a member of staff, by a Students’ Union representative, a fellow student, a family member, or friend. The accompanier is there to provide moral support and may not be a legal representative or advocate.
The student is expected to speak on their own behalf; there is no automatic right for an accompanier to speak on the student’s behalf and it is at the University’s discretion as to whether the accompanier is permitted to.
The disciplinary procedure is not a legal process. A student may only be accompanied by a legal representative if they have received express agreement from the University. Requests for a legal representative to be present should be submitted to sccoffice@kent.ac.uk as soon as is practicably possible. Please note that legal representation may delay the discipline process.
Academic misconduct
Where a student attends a hearing of the Academic Misconduct Committee, they may be accompanied by a member of staff or a student of the University or a member of staff of the Students' Union or a relative. Where a student representative attends a hearing as a Committee member, it will not be their role to provide guidance or support to those students whose work or behaviour is the subject of the allegations under review. Where such support is required it must be supplied by an individual who is not a Committee member.
Hearings are not legal proceedings and a student may not normally be accompanied by a legal representative, even if the legal representative is a member of staff or a student of the University or a member of staff of the Students' Union or a relative. However, in complex disciplinary cases, or cases where the outcome can potentially lead to a serious consequence, (i.e. category E penalties such as Termination of Studies) students are permitted to have legal representation.
Students must give the Chair of the Academic Misconduct Committee advance notice where they intend to use legal representation, so that the University can support the Academic Misconduct Committee in obtaining its own legal advice/support.
Where legal representation is required by both parties, the date of the Academic Misconduct Committee hearing may need to be amended, taking into account that the consideration of allegations should be completed within 40 working days.
Penalties?
General misconduct
The type of sanction imposed depends on the disciplinary offence.
Examples of sanctions include (non-exhaustive list):
- Restrictions/conditions, such as no contact, temporary exclusion or suspension;
- Formal warning;
- Written apology;
- Expulsion;
- Requirement for a student to attend an educational program;
- Restrictions/conditions;
- Payment to cover cost of damaged items/stolen items;
- Financial sanction;
- Recommendation that an accommodation agreement is terminated;
- Etc.
Academic misconduct
In determining the appropriate penalty for an offence, the following criteria will be considered:
- The type and severity of academic offence;
- The level of study and previous educational background of the student;
- Whether the student admits or denies the allegation;
- Previous or concurrent academic offences;
- The impact of the penalty on the student's progress or award.
There is a range of penalties that can be applied, including (but not limited to):
- Formal warning placed on student record;
- Penalised assessment mark of 10 percentage points;
- Penalised assessment mark appropriate to the nature of the offence (may be greater than 10 percentage points);
- Penalised assessment mark capped at the pass mark;
- Penalised assessment mark capped at the pass mark following resubmission;
- Penalised assessment mark of zero;
- Penalised module mark of zero (regardless of other assessment marks), capped resit permitted;
- Reduce classification by one or more class;
- Termination of academic studies with exit award where appropriate;
- Termination of academic studies with no award;
- Revocation of Award.
Right to appeal?
General misconduct
Grounds
An appeal of a Student Conduct and Complaints Officer’s decision may be submitted on one or more of the following grounds:
- That there is evidence of a failure to follow the procedures set out in this procedure or other administrative error which casts reasonable doubt on the reliability of the decision.
and/or
- That fresh evidence can be presented which could not reasonably have been made available before the original decision was made, and which casts reasonable doubt on the reliability of that decision.
Deadlines
To be considered, the appeal must:
- Provide the grounds for the appeal and the remedial action sought.
- Be submitted, with all necessary documentary evidence substantiating the grounds of the appeal.
- Be submitted in writing to the Head of the Student Conduct and Complaints Office at sccoffice@kent.ac.uk within 10 working days from the date of the letter notifying the student of the decision.
Academic misconduct
Grounds - Students wishing to appeal against the decisions of Chairs of Academic Misconduct Committees, may do so on the following grounds:
- Where there are reasonable grounds, supported by objective evidence, to believe that there has been an administrative, procedural or clerical error of such a nature as to have affected the recommendation of the Committee; and/or
- That fresh evidence can be presented, which could not reasonably have been made available before the decision was made, and which casts reasonable doubt on the reliability of the decision; and/or
- That the outcome and/or penalty were unreasonable or not justified given the evidence which was available at the time; and/or
- Where there is evidence of prejudice or bias or the reasonable perception of prejudice or bias against the student.
Deadlines
Students should submit to the following deadlines:
- Early Resolution: within 7–calendar days following receipt of the academic body’s decision.
- Formal Appeal: within 28–calendar days following receipt of the academic body’s decision or within 7-calendar days following receipt of the outcome of Early Resolution, whichever is the longer.
- Appeal Review Request: within 7–calendar days of receipt of their Formal Appeal Outcome.
Note: There is flexibility to extend the deadlines if there is good reason to do so.
Member of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (“OIA”) Scheme?
Yes – this means that you could potentially complain to the OIA once you have exhausted the University’s internal procedures.
The outcome of the appeal will be communicated to the student within 10 working days of the appeal being received.
The student will be advised of the right to bring a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) once the University’s internal procedures have been exhausted. The OIA provides an independent scheme for the review of student complaints or appeals. When all the University’s internal stages for dealing with student disciplinary cases have been exhausted, the University will issue a Completion of Procedures letter. Students wishing to request and an independent review by the OIA must submit their application to the OIA within 12 months of the issue of the Completion of Procedures letter. Full details of the scheme will be enclosed with the Completion of Procedures letter.
Contact our Student & University lawyers:
If you require further information or advice from our team of specialist lawyers, please contact a member of the team using one of the methods below.
This information was drafted in the months leading up to September 2023. It does not constitute legal advice. As University policies are updated from time-to-time, the information on this page may contain some inaccuracies and you should always check your University’s resources and/or seek legal advice where appropriate.
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