Frequently asked questions to SUS’s PhD Student and Student Ombud
SUS’s Ombud meet students every day who have different questions regarding their rights and obligations as students at the University. On this page, you will find the most frequently asked questions. Here you can find answers to questions about suspected cheating, the students’ ability to change a grade, information regarding why the syllabus is so important, and what obligations the University has to answer your emails. If you can’t find the answer you are looking for, please contact SUS’s Ombud.
Cheating and plagiarism – how disciplinary cases are handled at SU
This information is aimed at students at Stockholm University who would like to know more about what might happen if you are suspected of use of prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance, commonly referred to as cheating or plagiarism. You will also find information concerning the support and advice our PhD Student and Student Ombud can offer to students who are suspected of cheating or plagiarism.
Contact the Ombud early on
It’s important to establish contact between the student and the Ombud as soon as possible in matters regarding cheating or plagiarism. Ideally, the department/employees at Stockholm University should inform students of their rights to advice and support from the Ombud as soon as suspicions of use of prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance are raised. It’s also important that departments/employees at Stockholm University personally inform the students regarding cheating, its potential consequences, and the opportunity of receiving support from the PhD Student and Student Ombud in general.
What do the regulations say?
The University is allowed to take disciplinary action against students who “use prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance”, according to Chapter 10, Section 1, Article 2-4 of the Higher Education Ordinance. It is only during examination or when academic achievement is otherwise being evaluated that disciplinary action may be taken. This means that drafts that a student has communicated to their supervisor or when a student shows an examination to a fellow student, cannot be subjected to an investigation regarding potential deception.
There are also other cases when the University can take disciplinary action according to Chapter 10, Section 1, Article 2-4 of the Higher Education Ordinance. Those cases are when a student:
disrupt or obstruct teaching, tests or other activities within the framework of courses and study programmes at the higher education institution
disrupt activities in the library of the higher education institution or other separate establishments at the institution, or
subject another student or member of the staff of the higher education institution to harassment or sexual harassment of the kind laid down in Section 4 of Chapter 1 of the Discrimination Act (2008:567).
Disciplinary measures may not be invoked more than two years after the offence has been committed. Ordinance (2008:944).
Stockholm University handles these types of cases similarly to how they handle cheating and plagiarism. As a student you can receive support from the student ombud regarding cases like these as well.
The Disciplinary Matter is Initiated by the University
When an employee at Stockholm University suspects that a student has used prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance during an examination, the employee must report this to the person at the department who is responsible for investigating suspicions of disciplinary offences. In most cases, this person is the Head of Department or Director of Studies. The person responsible establishes documentation regarding the matter. Most of the time, the student will be informed of the suspicion and that a disciplinary matter has been initiated via email from the responsible person at the department and sometimes the student is called to a meeting with the department.
If the department calls the student to a meeting, the advice of the Ombud is to view the meeting with the department as an informational meeting, where Stockholm University informs you of how they view the matter. It’s rare that we can participate during meetings with the department, but if suspicion of disciplinary offense still remains after the meeting, we will assist you in the process from thereon.
Sometimes, the department requests the student’s version of what has happened. If you haven’t taken part of any documents, it is the advice of the Ombud that you wait before you elaborate on your version, until you have taken part of written documentation regarding the suspicion of use of prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance, that has been directed towards you, as well as received individual guidance from the Ombud.
The student has the right to proceed with their studies while the disciplinary matter is being investigated. The exception is if the President of the University, after consultation with the legally qualified member of the Disciplinary Committee, immediately suspends the student temporarily from activities at the University.
The Student Receives a Cover Letter
Most commonly, the student finds out that they are suspected of using prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance during an examination, when they are contacted by Legal Secretariat at the President’s Office. The student receives a collection of documents, referred to as an explanatory text or cover letter, by mail, as well as information regarding how to confirm that they have received the documents. In the missive there is personal information about the student, such as personal number and address, information about what the student is suspected of, a summary from the department, and notes about any contact that has taken place between the department and the student regarding the matter. If the matter concerns unauthorized notes, copies of these notes should be enclosed. In cases of suspected plagiarism, the submitted assignment and relevant extracts from the original source will be enclosed, with the plagiarized sections marked.
As the cover letter, as well as other material that concern the disciplinary matter, may feel overwhelming and hard to handle, the Ombud can go through the documents for you and sort through the information to assess their relevance. The Ombud will often read through the documents before meeting with the student in the Student Union’s office to talk about the matter and the documents.
The Student can Make a Statement
As a student, you are encouraged to leave a statement/response regarding the suspicions directed against you in the missive. The Student Ombud can give you advice regarding what parts of the suspicions you should respond to. The Student Ombud will generally advice you to do the following in a statement:
• give them your version of the incident
• give a background and possible reasons to what has happened
• respond to the accusations in the report
• use language that is formal and matter-of-fact
When a student has submitted a statement, the President of the University will receive the cover letter of the disciplinary matter along with said statement. The President will then decide if no further action should be taken on the matter (and in that case the student is no longer suspected of using prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance during an examination), if the student should be issued an official warning, or if the matter should be referred to the Disciplinary Committee. If the President decides that the student should be issued an official warning, the student has the right to have it reviewed by the Disciplinary Committee. If the matter is referred to the Disciplinary Committee, the student will receive further information about this and will be called to a meeting with the Disciplinary Committee.
The Meeting with the Disciplinary Committee
The Disciplinary Committee meets about every other week, where they make decisions regarding several disciplinary matters. One matter usually takes about 20 minutes.
The Disciplinary Committee consists of five committee members: the President of the University, a legally qualified representative, a representative of the teaching staff, and two student representatives
First the committee is introduced by the President. Then the department has the opportunity to add comments to the matter and the members can ask the department questions. Then the student is allowed to make a statement, if there is anything they would like to add, and the members can ask the student questions. The department and the student are then asked to leave the room while the members deliberate. When the members have reached a decision regarding the matter, the department and the student are called back in, and the President announces the decision as well as the motivation for the decision.
If the Ombud has read all the documents and met with the student, then the Ombud can join the Disciplinary Committee’s meeting and support the student during the meeting. If the student would like to, the student and the Ombud can meet up prior the meeting in the Student Union’s office, and go to the Disciplinary Committee meeting together, be present together in the room during the meeting, and then leave the room for a private conversation.
Suspension, Warning or no Action
If the Disciplinary Committee comes to the conclusion that the student has not used prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance during an examination, then the matter is left without further action. However, if the Disciplinary Committee does consider the student guilty of using prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance during an examination, then the consequence is usually suspension or a warning. According to the Higher Education Ordinance, the duration of the suspension may vary from one to six months, but, in the Student Ombud’s experience, the Stockholm University’s Disciplinary Committee usually decides on one to three months of suspension.
The duration of the suspension depends on:
how extensive the misleading offense was
how long the student has been studying
how many credits the examination equaled
if the student has previously undergone disciplinary action.
A suspension entails that the student is not allowed to participate in any examination or education at Stockholm University. The student can, in other words, not be present during lectures, seminars, laboratory work, examinations or anything of the sort. By extension, this means that the student isn’t actively studying during the suspension (that is, if they are not also studying at another university/college), and can therefore not receive study grants/loans from CSN during this time period.
Appealing a Decision from the Disciplinary Committee
The Disciplinary Committee’s decision can be appealed to the administrative court in Stockholm (Förvaltningsrätten i Stockholm) within three weeks from the date on which the student was notified of the decision. An appeal means that the student would like a higher court to review the matter again. The student will receive information from the Disciplinary Committee regarding how they can appeal the decision alongside the decision itself. The Ombud can give advice on what argumentation the students can use in their written appeal.
During and After a Suspension – Planning for the future
Students are always welcome back to Stockholm University after a suspension and should not be subjected to any form of retaliations due to their prior disciplinary matter. During the period of suspension, the student can plan for future studies. One way of doing this is to contact a student counselor at the department where the student would normally study, in order to receive advice and to make a customized study plan. A suspension does not prevent the student from receiving administrative assistance such as student counseling.
It is not unusual for students to feel uneasy and struggle with their mental health before, during and after the disciplinary hearing. Stockholm Student Health Services can be a great support if that is the case. They are well aware of students’ situations in general and are also competent when it comes to students’ situations in relation to disciplinary matters. It also helps if the student can talk to loved ones, share what has happened and communicate what support they need in the process.
Want to Read More?
That disciplinary actions can be taken against students, how using prohibited aids or other methods to attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of study performance during an examination is defined, and how the Disciplinary Committee handles matters is regulated in the Higher Education Ordinance’s 10th chapter, as well as in part in the the Administrative Procedure Act’s regulations regarding reasons for decisions and processing. Its regulations are also included in Guidelines for Disciplinary Matters at Stockholm University.
The Right to Appeal, Reassess, Change or Correct a Grade – How it Works
A student cannot appeal a grade, but they can request that it is reassessed, rectified or amended
Reassessment
A reassessment of a grade entails that the examiner reviews the exam one more time. Only the original examiner can conduct the reassessment. The easiest way to do this is to email your examiner and express that you your grade in a specific course reassessed and attach a file with your argumentation in the form of for example a PDF-file. If an examiner finds that a decision on a grade is obviously incorrect owing to new circumstances or for some other reason, he or she shall change the decision if this can be done quickly and easily and if it does not mean lowering the grade.
Corrections
Incorrect grades due to a clerical, calculation or similar error may be corrected to both the advantage and disadvantage of the student. Corrections that disadvantage the student must be done with great care and only in clear cases. The University’s legal team should be consulted prior to any changes that may affect the student negatively, and the student should be given the opportunity to make a statement. Just like with reassessments, corrections must be done by the examiner.
Changes
Results of examinations that are deemed incorrect due to new circumstances, or similar reasoning, can be amended by the examiner. A passing grade may only be amended to the students disadvantage under specific circumstances, such as misleading conduct (eg. cheating or plagiarism). When amending a grade to the disadvantage of the student, the university legal team must be consulted, and the student is normally given the opportunity to make a statement.
Your syllabus – Where your rights and obligations during a course are regulated!
As a student, you always have the right to receive relevant information about the course you will be taking before you start your studies. The course syllabus must be determined and available when the course opens for registration.
The syllabus contains regulations that are legally binding, just like laws and legislations. The regulations in the syllabus are binding for both the university and the students, so by reading your syllabus you will find information about both your obligations and rights as a student during a course.
The syllabus is binding, which for instance means that any other forms of examination, than those specified in the syllabus, may not be used. If the course syllabus and any other course documents, such as the course description, contradict each other, then the course syllabus takes precedence.
You can read more about what a course syllabus is and what it should include in Stockholm University’s Regulations for education and examination at first-cycle and second-cycle level.
Is the university not answering you emails - Read more about the Service Obligations of the University
Stockholm University is a government agency, and as a government agency there are laws that govern the University's so called Service Obligation.
Obligation to respond to emails
According to the Public Administration Act, a government agency must provide advice, information and guidance in matters concerning the agency’s area of activity. Questions should be answered as soon as possible. According to the Public Administration Act, the agency must receive visits and calls. The agency must also be reachable by the public via email. If you email a teacher, they have an obligation to respond to you within three days, as a general rule.
Examination assignments must be graded within fifteen working days
As a student, you have the right to have your examination assignments graded within a certain time. This is regulated in the University's own Regulations for education and examination at first-cycle and second-cycle level. It states that an examination assignment must be done, graded and reported in Ladok within 15 working days from the time of the examination. The grading and reporting should also take place more than ten working days before the next examination opportunity. Please note that working days are an absolute measure, and should not be interpreted as the working days of the examiner in question.
How do SUS’s Ombud handle sensitive information about me?
All student matters are handled confidentially. This means that no one other than the Ombud who handles your case may take part of the information. If the Ombud is in contact with other parties that are relevant to the case, for example the University itself, then the Ombud must handle the personal information with care and in agreement with the student in question’s wishes.