1. The Institute does not tolerate fraud – plagiarism, collusion or any other form of academic fraud – in evaluation If there is a suspicion that such actions have been committed, the case must be reported to the teacher and/or examiner in charge of the study unit concerned, who will investigate the matter in accordance with these guidelines. The teacher will also report the case to the Ethical Issues Committee (EIC), with a prescribed form, for any further action that may be required. Individuals accused of fraud will be given the opportunity to clarify their behaviour before taking any disciplinary action.

2. Plagiarism can  be  defined  as  the  unacknowledged  use  of  another  individual’s  work, presented as it were one’s Depending on the nature of the fraud or the extent of the plagiarism, the teacher and/or EIC decide on the relevant sanction to be imposed, which can range from an insufficient grade or the reduction of the evaluation assigned, to the expulsion of the individual from the Institute, in the most serious cases.

3. A distinction must be made between forms of plagiarism classified as major (significant copying of texts, materials or ideas, presented as one’s own) or minor (for cases of less significant unrecognized indebtedness or academic incompetence rather than intentional fraud). Academic incompetence may consist of errors in the reference list, missing or incomplete citations or an inconsistent citation style, that prevents the reader from identifying the sou

4. Lack of source recognition is crucial in determining whether a reported case should be penalized for plagiarism, but it is also important to include in quotes any text from a recognized sou

5. At the beginning of each study program, students will be given instructions on how to report references in their works and on how to recognize and cite their sources, to avoid being unintentionally exposed to accusations of plagiari The Academic Council (AC) will indicate the reference systems to be used by students (APA, Harvard, etc.).

6. In the first semester, a benefit will be granted for students to learn referencing skills before penalties for plagiarism are applied. In these first months university students will be taught legitimate forms of paraphrasing and recognition from a source text, the correct use of reference system and how to identify “common knowledge” that does not require citation.

7. The Institute will provide access to text-based matching software to allow students to check their text-based work and for teachers to be able to detect and discourage p Teachers will be trained in the use of software and will inform their students on how to upload their work on the plagiarism detection program to generate an originality report, before sending the final version for evaluation. This will allow the teacher to ensure, as far as possible, that the work is original.

8. In addition to the text, the teacher will also monitor the use of any unauthorized copy of images, illustrative material, computer programs or other mater

9. The purchase or commissioning of works by third parties to be submitted as their own will also be considered a serious infringement, to be strictly regulated.

10. In case of suspected collusion involving two or more students (producing the work together when such collaboration is not permitted), the teacher/examiner should investigate and report the matter to the EIC, which will act as suggested in these guidelines for cases of p

11. Alleged cases of plagiarism or other forms of academic fraud can be reported (by a tutor or other person aware of the case) to the teacher and/or examiner responsible for the modu The examiner and the teaching staff of a study unit (if not the same person) can also investigate cases that they themselves notice at any stage of an evaluation process.

12. If the teacher/examiner comes to the conclusion that:

• No plagiarism occurred, whoever reported the case will be informed of the result of the investigation and no further action will be taken.
• Minor plagiarism of academic incompetence are verified, the grades assigned for the evaluation in question will be reduced by an amount that reflects the extent of the infringement and the student can be warned and reported to the EIC. If the student has already been warned and reported to the EIC for similar crimes, the severity of the sanction will be increased.
• A case of serious plagiarism is confirmed, the EIC will be informed and the teacher will punish the student by giving him an F (fail) grade for the module in question. Further actions, including expulsion from the Institute, may be recommended by the EIC to the AC if the seriousness of the case deserves an additional penalty.

13. As indicated above, a more severe penalty can be applied to a case of minor plagiarism if the EIC finds that the student has a history of repeated cases of such irregularities.

14. The  student  has  the  right  to  appeal  to  the  EIC  to  have  the  penalty  imposed  by  the teacher/examiner reviewed. In this case, the student will be invited to submit observations and any witness that can testify in his defence. The final decision will confirm or revise the original penalty.