Only 22 students sanctioned for cheating in last three years

22 students at Warwick were caught cheating in University examinations since the 2015/16 academic year, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent by The Boar can reveal.

The academic year 2016/17 saw the highest number of students penalised for cheating over the past three years, with nine second-year students from the School of Engineering caught.

They were sanctioned for using their mobile phones to access materials. The students received a module mark of zero as penalty, but with an opportunity to re-sit the examination.

According to the University’s regulations, in such instances the re-sit mark will be capped at the relevant pass mark, usually 40%.

That same year, two finalists from the Warwick Business School (WBS) were also caught cheating, one for possession of unauthorised material and the other for possession of a mobile phone.

The former was given a mark of zero for the examination, whereas the latter was given a mark of zero for the module with no opportunity to resit.

In the last academic year, one Engineering finalist, two WBS finalists, and one first-year and one finalist from the Economics department were sanctioned.

The academic year 2016/17 saw the highest number of students penalised for cheating over the past three years

All of the students received a mark of zero for the examination. While other students got the opportunity to re-sit the examination, the WBS students did not.

The WBS students and the first-year Economics student possessed unauthorised materials, whereas the Engineering and Economics finalists were found to have a mobile phone during the examination.

In the 2015/16 academic year, six final-year students were caught cheating: two from Engineering, two from the Law School, one from Economics, and one from WBS.

Sanctions sometimes differed even if the offence was the same. For example, for possession of unauthorised material, one Economics student and one Law student had their mark capped at 40%, whereas another Law student received a mark of zero for the examination in 2015/16.

For the possession of a mobile phone during examinations, a WBS finalist was not given an opportunity to re-sit in 2016/17, whereas an Economics finalist was.

When asked about the differences in sanctions, the University commented: “Penalties applied to students are decided on a case by case basis and take into consideration the individual circumstances of the student.

“This may include a range of mitigating circumstances and whether this was a repeat offence and not the first instance of them having cause to be penalised.

“These decisions are made in accordance with University guidelines and apply to each faculty, which are reviewed each year to ensure that they are equitable and consistent.”