INSTITUTIONAL POLICY: MALPRACTICE AND PLAGIARISM

INSTITUTIONAL POLICY: MALPRACTICE AND PLAGIARISM

  • ocument Reference: CMC-QA-POL-001
  • Version: 2026.1
  • Regulatory Compliance: Ofqual General Conditions of Recognition (Condition G4 & G9)
  • Scope: Applies to all registered learners, assessors, and internal verifiers across all distance learning programmes.

1. Purpose and Overview Cambridge Modern College is strictly committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, corporate ethics, and educational quality. As an online learning provider, the College enforces a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of academic malpractice, plagiarism, and unauthorized collusion. This policy provides clear definitions, preventative guidelines, and standardized disciplinary frameworks to ensure that all validated qualifications reflect the independent and authentic work of the learner. 2. Definitions of Academic Dishonesty 2.1. Plagiarism Plagiarism is defined as the direct theft, incorporation, or reproduction of another person’s intellectual property, ideas, data, corporate data metrics, or written text without explicit, unambiguous academic acknowledgement or citation. This includes:

  • Direct Copying: Duplicating text verbatim from web domains, journals, textbooks, or corporate disclosures without utilizing quotation marks and appropriate citations.
  • Paraphrasing Without Citation: Rewriting an author's ideas in altered prose while failing to acknowledge the source material.
  • Auto-Plagiarism: Resubmitting one’s own previously graded academic work from a different course or institution without prior executive written authorization.

2.2. Unregulated Artificial Intelligence Ingestion While the College supports the constructive use of digital tools for initial structural layout generation, the unverified copy-pasting of long-form texts generated directly by Large Language Models (LLMs) into final assessment briefs without personal synthesis and critical human review is strictly categorized as a form of academic misrepresentation and malpractice. 2.3. Collusion and Contract Cheating

  • Collusion: Unauthorized collaboration between two or more registered learners to produce a single assignment script that is subsequently submitted as the independent work of an individual.
  • Contract Cheating: Engaging third-party academic writers, agencies, or commercial platforms to author or complete assessment responses on behalf of the learner for monetary or personal considerations.

3. Institutional Detection and Quality Monitoring Protocols To protect the international reputation of the Ofqual Level 7 and Postgraduate frameworks, Cambridge Modern College deploys a structured, multi-layered digital vetting infrastructure:

  • Automated Screening: Every research report and assignment script uploaded to the verified CMC Learning Management System (LMS) is systematically routed through integrated anti-plagiarism and AI-detection tools (e.g., Turnitin Integration Frameworks).
  • Baseline Thresholds: The maximum allowable cumulative similarity index is capped strictly at 15%, provided all matching references are correctly cited using the Harvard Referencing System. Any script displaying an unindexed similarity matrix exceeding this baseline is automatically flagged for formal quality audit.
  • Viva Voce / Verification Interviews: Internal Verifiers and Assessors reserve the absolute right to conduct unscheduled, virtual verification interviews (via Zoom) with any learner to verbally test their depth of knowledge regarding their submitted research findings.

4. Disciplinary Procedures and Sanctions Framework If an Assessor or Internal Verifier establishes verified proof of plagiarism or malpractice, the case is referred to the Academic Integrity Committee. Disciplinary actions are applied based on severity: Stage 1: Minor Offence (First Incident)

  • Action: The assessment script is rejected and marked as an immediate Fail.
  • Sanction: The learner receives a formal written warning and is granted a single 14-day window to completely restructure, re-author, and resubmit the assignment, subject to an administrative re-submission fee.

Stage 2: Major Offence (Second Incident or Direct Contract Cheating)

  • Action: The assignment is permanently failed with zero opportunity for resubmission.
  • Sanction: Suspension from the current module and a permanent mark of academic misconduct placed on the student’s internal institutional transcript.

Stage 3: Severe Systemic Malpractice

  • Action: Immediate, unconditional cancellation of the student's registration profile.
  • Sanction: Expulsion from Cambridge Modern College without tuition fee refund, and notification of the breach sent directly to the partner UK Awarding Body.