JISC

A Universities UK, SCOP and JISC one-day conference

There has been growing media coverage of the issue of plagiarism - and more widely - the issue of 'cheating' students. Concerns have been raised about the effect this might have on the UK's academic reputation and also questions about what the higher education sector is doing to tackle the problem. There is often an underlying assumption that, as a sector, we are not doing enough.

Although each institution will have its own codes of practice relating to assessment processes, this conference will offer an excellent opportunity for the sector to take a proactive stance, to share good practice and to discuss the possibility of a co-ordinated, sector-wide approach.

The conference will focus on student - rather than staff - academic misconduct and will take a holistic approach to this issue. Rather than focusing simply on detecting 'cheats', the event will consider the institution-wide processes, policies and practices that must be in place to deal with these issues within a consistent and fair system.

The conference will be chaired by Professor Andrew Hamnett, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Strathclyde. Other speakers include: Baroness Ruth Deech, the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education; Brian Salter, Deputy College Secretary and Academic Registrar, Kings College and Secretary, ARC; Wes Streeting, VP Education, NUS; Adrian Slater, Legal Adviser, University of Leeds and Boris Johnson MP, Shadow Minister for HE.

The conference will be of interest to Vice-Chancellors, Principals, Pro Vice-Chancellors, Academic Registrars, academics, senior managers and decision makers in HE.