Regulations for taught students: Section 12
SECTION 12: Student Disciplinary Regulation
You should seek impartial advice and support from the Students’ Union Advice Centre if you are involved in a disciplinary.
12.1 Regulation introduction
12.1.1 We expect you to follow the University’s Community Code of Conduct and act as a part of the wider University community. We expect you as “global professionals” to behave in a professional manner whether you are on campus, on placement, study visits, field trips or any other off campus location. Some examples of unacceptable behaviour are listed within the Community Code of Conduct and we expect you to read this.
12.1.2 If we receive a report about your behaviour, we may use this procedure to investigate the allegation. If you are registered on a course recognised by a Professional, Statutory or Regulatory body (PSRB), we may investigate under the Fitness to Practice Regulations (Section 11). Anyone, including members of the public, can make a report to the University about your behaviour. Reports may be made by the police, academic staff, other students or other University staff. Your alleged behaviour may be assessed under the precautionary measures procedure (section 14) and a risk assessment may be completed as a result. If an allegation is made about you to the police and the police decide to investigate, we are likely to postpone our investigations until the criminal proceedings have been concluded. Further information on criminal proceedings and our investigations can be found in section 14.
12.1.3 If the Students’ Union investigates a report about your behaviour under the Students’ Union Constitution’s Disciplinary Procedure and finds you have a case to answer, this is likely to indicate a breach of our Code of Conduct. The University may use the same report and supporting evidence in its own procedure.
12.1.4 If we decide to investigate the allegation, we expect you to be honest and truthful. We make decisions based on the balance of probabilities and we may apply more severe penalties if we find that you have not been honest and truthful.
12.1.5 We recognise that some behaviour may be attributable to your health status or disability and, if that is the case, we will consider this. If you wish this to be considered, it is your responsibility to tell us. You should note that when we make decisions under this regulation we will be guided by an overriding concern for the protection of other students and staff, the public and the reputation of the University.
12.1.6 We can make decisions and apply penalties at any stage of the procedure. You can appeal these decisions at each stage, however you cannot appeal a decision where the matter has been referred to a later stage.
12.1.7 As either a student making or responding to a report, you must provide all evidence, information and details of witnesses at the earliest possible opportunity. You should give this information to us as part of our investigations at stages 1 or 2. If you do not do this, we might not be able to consider your information at stage 3 or as part of an appeal. Exceptionally we may allow you to bring new evidence or witnesses with you to a hearing if you have good reason why this information could not have been provided during our investigations.
12.1.8 We can start our investigations at either stage 1 or stage 2 of the procedure depending on the severity of the allegation. If we decide to start our investigations at stage 2 of the procedure, we will explain to you why we have decided to do this.
12.1.9 If you withdraw or have been withdrawn under a different procedure from your course before this procedure has concluded, you will not be allowed to return to study with us until the matter has been investigated and the outcome is known. If you ask for a reference at this time this will record that a disciplinary matter is outstanding.
12.1.10 If an allegation raised under this regulation would be more appropriately dealt with using a different University procedure, we will advise you which procedure to use and why. If someone raises an allegation under another procedure, we may choose to consider it as a disciplinary matter instead. If so, we will explain why and confirm the correct procedure to be used.
12.1.11 We will not take into account any previously upheld allegations under the student disciplinary procedure when considering a current allegation. However, if we conclude that you have breached the community code of conduct, we will then take into account any previously upheld allegations when applying a penalty. It is likely that if you have a previously upheld breach, we will apply a more serious penalty.
12.2 Confidentiality and anonymity
12.2.1 We will handle investigations sensitively and confidentially. We will keep any information that we gather during our investigations confidential. However, we will need to share information with members of staff so that we can investigate the allegations. We will usually share the information with a limited number of people who are involved in the processing or decision making of disciplinary matters. In exceptional circumstances, we may need to share this information with external parties but if we need to do this, we will tell you why.
12.2.2 Please note that, if a government or corporate organisation sponsors you, we may inform your sponsor of any concerns regarding your behaviour. This may include notifying your employer if you are on an apprenticeship course, where relevant.
12.2.3 It may be possible for us to anonymise or redact allegations in certain circumstances if you do not want the person you are complaining about to know that it is you who has made the complaint. We cannot guarantee to protect anonymity in all cases. We can discuss this with you if it is a concern when you submit an allegation to us, or have an allegation made against you.
12.2.4 We do not accept anonymous allegations about student misconduct under this regulation. We understand that you might wish to raise an issue about another student’s behaviour anonymously, and if so, the University’s Report and Support tool may be appropriate for you. However, you should note that we will not consider any reports received through the Share and Support tool if you report this anonymously.
12.2.5 If you make an allegation against someone else, we will tell you when the matter is concluded but we may only share limited details regarding the outcome with you in very exceptional circumstances.