College Statement on Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a fundamental principle that should underpin all academic activity and is an underpinning tenet of UCD (opens in a new window)Student Code of Conduct, by which all UCD students are bound, see also the UCD Webpage Student Conduct and Academic Integrity.

One of the key principles of academic integrity is full and appropriate acknowledgement of the contribution of others in any work. Breaches of academic integrity are known as academic misconduct which may involve students submitting work that is not their own, wholly or partly. Academic misconduct (also known as academic dishonesty or academic malpractice) “is any attempt by someone to seek unfair advantage in relation to [an] academic activity or which facilitates others to gain an unfair advantage, or to profit from the sharing or selling of your own or others’ work without permission”.

Examples of academic misconduct include plagiarism, unauthorised use of generative artificial intelligence, contract cheating, collusion, cheating during examinations. For all categories and definitions of academic misconduct see section 5 of the Academic Integrity Policy.

Plagiarism, which involves the explicit or implicit presentation of the work of others as the original work of the author, is a violation of academic integrity and a breach of the UCD (opens in a new window)Student Code of Conduct and is the most commonly reported category of student academic misconduct.

All UCD students are required to become familiar with the Academic Integrity Policy. This defines plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) other breaches of academic integrity (student academic misconduct), and sets out University College Dublin’s arrangements and supports for enabling students to understand and value academic integrity and avoid student academic misconduct; and to provide a framework for effective, fair, consistent and timely processes in the event of an allegation of, for example, plagiarism being made against a student. The policy includes (i) the procedures for identifying and investigating Student Academic Misconduct against a student at School and University level, (ii) the range of penalties that may be applied at School and University level if an allegation is upheld, (iii) the appeal process available to students if an allegation is upheld, and (iv) the supports available to students throughout the process.

Each School within the College operates a its own School Academic Integrity Committee for the purposes of reviewing suspected instances of plagiarism and deciding whether the matter may be resolved at School Committee level or whether a referral to the UCD (opens in a new window)Student Discipline Procedure is required.