Policies and regulations

Find out about �ؿ�ζSM's policies and regulations.

About our policies and regulations

Kingston Universityprovides a transparent and comprehensive framework for students and staff through its policies and regulations. Covering academic, health and wellbeing aspects, these guidelines ensure a supportive and fair environment for everyone. The policies also reflect a commitment to sustainability, ethics and integrity, promoting a culture of excellence and accountability.

Students can access updated policies, including changes for 2024/25, to ensure alignment with academic standards and institutional values. Key updates are rigorously reviewed by the Academic Council, featuring elected academic staff and student representation.

For tailored advice, students can contact Kingston Students' Union at [email protected] or their personal tutor.

Please note that these are our standard regulations and policies and so students should also refer to their where any non-standard regulations will be explained.

If any employee or worker of the University wishes to report any concerns or issues with the implementation of any of the University's policies or regulations they should refer to the University's Whistleblowing Policy.

Accessible documents: Please contact the Information Centre (in each campus library) or Kingston Students' Union Advice Centre if you find any aspect of these regulations difficult to understand or if you need an accessible version.

Key student policies 2024/25

General student regulations

Explore general student regulations.

Student complaints procedure

Explore information about the type of issues you can raise under the Student Complaints Procedure and details of how to submit a complaint.

Mitigating circumstances and extensions regulations

Find answers to frequently asked questions about mitigating circumstances and extensions.

Student conduct and behaviour procedure

Find out about student conduct and behaviour procedures.

Academic policies

Academic integrity

The University is a community bound by, among other things, a culture of academic integrity. Students are continually supported and guided in what constitutes academic integrity and why this enriches their experience and bestows benefits intrinsically linked to knowledge acquisition, skills development and qualification.

Academic misconduct is, in essence, a breach of this norm. The application of the academic misconduct procedure set out in Academic Regulations 6 & 7 primarily protects this culture.

Plagiarism (including copying, self-plagiarism and collusion)

Plagiarism is the act of presenting the work of another person (or people) and/or content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) tools as your own without proper acknowledgement. This includes copying the work of another student or other students.

The University expects students to take responsibility for the security of their work (i.e. with written work, to ensure that other students do not get access to electronic or hard copy of the work). Failure to keep work secure may allow others to cheat, and could result in an allegation of academic misconduct for students whose work have been copied, particularly if the origin of the work is in doubt.

Self-plagiarism

The act of presenting part or all of your work that has been previously submitted to meet the requirements of a different assessment, except where the nature of the assessment makes this permissible.

Collusion

The act, by two or more students, of presenting a piece of work jointly without acknowledging the collaboration. This could include permitting or assisting another to present work that has been copied or paraphrased from your own work.

The University also defines collusion as the act of one student presenting a piece of work as their own independent work when the work was undertaken by a group. With group work, where individual members submit parts of the total assignment, each member of a group must take responsibility for checking the legitimacy of the work submitted in his/her name. If even part of the work is found to contain academic misconduct, penalties will normally be imposed on all group members equally.

Cheating in an examination venue

The University defines cheating in an examination venue as including:

Taking notes or any unauthorised materials into an examination venue. This includes having notes available in toilets or other areas that may be visited during the examination. If students refuse to comply with instructions if they request to leave the examination venue during the examination (e.g. a toilet visit), this may be considered evidence of attempted academic misconduct.
Obtaining an advanced copy of a question paper.
Unauthorised communication during an examination (including via telephone or other electronic media).
Removing an examination answer book from the examination venue.
Copying from another candidate.
Allowing oneself to be impersonated.
Impersonating another candidate.

Fabricating or falsifying data or using without permission another person's work

The act of fabricating or falsifying data to include presenting work that has not taken place. This includes laboratory reports or projects based on experimental or field work. It may also include falsifying attendance sheets for placements where this is part of the assessment requirements.

Purchasing or commissioning

The act of attempting to purchase or purchasing work for an assessment including, for example from the internet, or attempting to commission, or commissioning someone else to complete an assessment on your behalf.

The penalties for academic misconduct have been determined on the basis of the following principles:

No student should gain any advantage over another as a result of academic misconduct.
Where there is evidence of collusion, all students implicated in the case should normally receive the same penalty.
Where there is evidence of plagiarism or copying group work, all those involved will normally receive the same penalty.
In recognition of understanding how academic integrity has been breached, a student who admits to academic misconduct prior to a formal hearing will receive a reduced penalty (AR6 Taught Courses).

Summary of penalties applicable for Academic Misconduct - Taught Courses

Penalty A	Element of assessment awarded a mark of zero (Z). Reassessment by retake is permitted if required.
Penalty B	Module and element of assessment awarded a mark of zero (Z). Reassessment by retake is permitted, if this is allowed by the standard assessment regulations. If the reassessment is being undertaken in retake mode, the penalty only requires reassessment in the piece of work in which the academic misconduct took place. However, where other elements are failed, these too should be set as retake as per assessment regulations. Where any subsequent reassessment is judged to be of the required pass standard, the overall module result will be capped at the minimum pass mark. Additional learning support to be provided.
Penalty C	Module and element of assessment awarded a mark of zero (Z). Reassessment by retake will not be permitted. An opportunity to repeat/replace the module is permitted, if this is allowed by the standard assessment regulations. Where any subsequent reassessment is judged to be of the required pass standard, the overall module result will be capped at the minimum pass mark.
Penalty D	Module and element of assessment awarded a mark of zero (Z). A PAB will terminate the registration and award based on credit achieved at that point.

Penalties by Offence and Repeat Offence - Taught Courses

	Plagiarism or Collusion	Other type of academic misconduct	Mixed offences*
**	A	N/A	N/A
First offence	B	C	N/A
Second offence	C	D	D
Third offence	D	N/A	D

*Mixed offences are when a repeat offence is made in a different category to the first offence.

**Penalty A is only applied where a penalty B offence is admitted to prior to a formal hearing.

Summary of penalties applicable for Academic Misconduct - Research Degrees

ALLEGATION ARISING BEFORE SUBMISSION OF THE THESIS FOR FINAL EXAMINATION

Module Level	Type of Academic Misconduct	1st offence	2nd, repeat or concurrent offence
7/8	Plagiarism or collusion	Opportunity to revise the work. Additional learning support will be provided. Progression delayed until improved work is developed and submitted.	Termination of registration
7/8	Other types of academic misconduct	Opportunity to revise the work. Additional learning support will be provided. Progression delayed until improved work is developed and submitted.	Termination of registration

ALLEGATION ARISING AFTER SUBMISSION OF THE THESIS FOR FINAL EXAMINATION

Module Level	Type of Academic Misconduct	1st offence	2nd, repeat or concurrent offence
7/8	Plagiarism or collusion	Termination of registration. In cases of poor academic practice, this will be addressed as part of the examination process.	Termination of registration
7/8	Other types of academic misconduct	Termination of registration	Termination of registration

Academic appeals

Academic Quality and Standards Handbook 2024/25

The Academic Quality and Standards Handbook (AQSH) for 2024/25 consists of 16 sections, including an introduction, which detail the University's principles and procedures for approving, monitoring and reviewing its courses, programmes and partnerships. It is anticipated that the AQSH will be of most benefit to those members of staff with day-to-day involvement in the University's quality assurance and enhancement procedures.

If you have queries regarding the Academic Quality and Standards Handbook, please get in touch with the Quality Assurance and Enhancement (QAE) team AT [email protected]

Course changes

To improve your student experience, and the quality of your degree, it is sometimes necessary to make changes to a course. Our degree courses are reviewed regularly to ensure they meet expected standards and keep up with developments in the subject. View the course changes page to find out more.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework

Kingston Universityis committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of our community. We aim to create a supportive and inclusive environment where students are provided with a range of accessible services, activities and interventions to help them succeed while studying with us.

We recognise there are times when students may struggle due to the demands of studying and other pressures in their lives. We have developed this Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework to set out our whole institution commitment to protecting the wellbeing of students and staff. Our framework is aligned with the Student Minds for which we are a Programme Member.

Our approach includes resources and interventions to enhance mental fitness, encourage healthy behaviours, and empower students to manage their own mental health and wellbeing. Students are enabled to access appropriate wellbeing support if they need it through a combination of internal services and external partnerships.

Non-academic policies

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