Regulations for Handling Examination Violations
Article 1
(Scope)
These Regulations are applicable to the degree programmes of Macao Polytechnic University (hereinafter referred to as the “University”) and its students.
Article 2
(Definition of Breaches of Examination Discipline)
1. Refusing to comply with the University’s examination rules and regulations, or disobeying the instructions of the invigilators or staff, is regarded as a breach of the examination discipline.
2. The acts of breaching the examination discipline include:
(1) Bringing items other than those permissible to the examination venues;
(2) Failing to place the necessary items for taking the examination and other personal belongings at the specified locations;
(3) Refusing to be seated according to the seating plan;
(4) Reading the examination paper before the start of the examination has been announced, or continuing to answer the questions after the end of the examination has been announced;
(5) Staying in the examination venues after submitting the examination paper or making loud noises in the vicinity of the examination venues;
(6) Entering or leaving the examination venues without the invigilator’s permission;
(7) Removing the question paper, answer sheets, draft paper and other examination-related papers away from the examination venues without authorisation;
(8) Refusing to follow the instructions of the invigilators or staff, or threatening or insulting the same personnel;
(9) Behaving in a way that is disruptive to the administration of the examination or to the maintenance of order at the examination venues.
Article 3
(Definition of Cheating in Examination)
1. Any dishonest behaviour which a student committed, or intended to commit, whether deliberately or unwittingly, in connection with the examination is regarded as cheating in the examination, including the particular situations proscribed in the following two clauses.
2. Before the examination, it is forbidden to obtain any information on the examination paper in an improper way.
3. During the examination, it is forbidden to:
(1) Attempt to look up the information on the examination in any manner;
(2) Have any information on the academic subject being tested on the student’s body, in the clothes, in the stationery, or in any items on the writing desk;
(3) Have unauthorised information on the academic subject being tested in any permissible reference materials;
(4) Use unauthorised electronic dictionaries, or calculators which support the input of calculation programmes;
(5) Use any communication device, including smart watches;
(6) Look at or copy from the answers of another student;
(7) Provide the conditions for others to commit cheating;
(8) Collude with others and pretend to be examination candidates;
(9) Communicate with anyone in whatever manner inside or outside the examination venues;
(10) Destroy intentionally the examination paper, answer sheets or any examination materials;
(11) Destroy intentionally the evidence of cheating.
Article 4
(Procedure)
1. If a student is suspected of committing the proscribed behaviours referred in Articles 2 and 3 of these Regulations, the following procedure will apply.
(1) If a student is suspected of committing any act of breaching the examination discipline, an invigilator should immediately give the student a verbal warning and correct the behaviour. The chief invigilator may immediately stop those who continue the misconduct irrespective of the warning given from sitting the examination, take back the examination paper, ask the student to leave the examination venue, and mark on the examination paper “Breach of Examination Discipline”. The act of breaching the examination discipline should be recorded in the invigilation report, regardless of whether or not the student has been asked to leave the examination venue as a result of the breach;
(2) If a student is suspected of cheating in an examination, the chief invigilator may stop the student from sitting the examination, take back the examination paper, ask the student to leave the examination venue, and mark on the invigilation report “Cheating”. The act of cheating should be recorded in the invigilation report, regardless of whether or not the student has been asked to leave the examination venue as a result of the cheating.
2. The Pedagogic and Research Affairs Office sends the invigilation report containing the alleged case of breaching the examination discipline or cheating in the examination with the relevant information to the Student Affairs Office after the examination.
3. The Student Affairs Office issues a notice of the breach of the examination discipline or the cheating to the student within two working days after receiving the invigilation report containing the alleged case with the relevant information. The student may submit a written defence to the Student Affairs Office within three working days after receiving the notice; late submission will not be accepted. The relevant case file will then be sent to the academic unit to which the student belongs for follow-up action.
4. The director of the academic unit may, depending on the circumstances, form an investigation team of three academic staff members to investigate the case and conduct hearings, in order to deliberate and determine whether the student committed the act of breaching the examination discipline or cheating in the examination. The chief invigilator and the invigilator, both referred to in Clause 1 of this article, as well as the relevant academic subject’s teacher, cannot participate in the investigation. The Student Affairs Office should send a delegate without the right to vote to attend the investigation meetings and hearings.
5. The student may request a hearing in the written defence and the investigation team may ask the student or any other person related to the case to attend the hearings. The absence of any person in the hearings does not affect the preparation of an investigation report.
6. The investigation team should submit an investigation report to the director of the academic unit to which the student belongs.
7. The director of the academic unit makes the decision of imposing penalties or closing the case after receiving the investigation report, if any, and sends the case file to the Student Affairs Office for informing the student by a written notice.
8. The Student Affairs Office issues the notice referred to in the preceding clause to the student, copying in the Pedagogic and Research Affairs Office, the Registry and the academic unit to which the student belongs, within three working days after receiving the case file.
Article 5
(Penalties)
1. With respect to cheating in the examination, the following penalties are imposed simultaneously and recorded in the relevant student file:
(1) the student gets a zero mark in the relevant academic subject;
(2) the student cannot take part in the resit examination of the relevant academic subject in the same academic year;
(3) the student is suspended from study for one academic year and the suspension begins from the next semester following the case;
(4) the student loses certain rights as a student of the University during the period of suspension of study (e.g. the University’s subsidy, grant and / or scholarship);
2. With respect to breaching the examination discipline, the following penalties are imposed simultaneously and recorded in the relevant student file:
(1) As a first-time offender, the student gets a zero mark in the relevant academic subject and cannot take part in the relevant resit examination in the same academic year;
(2) As a repeat offender, the student is suspended from study for one academic year and the suspension begins from the next semester following the case.
3. The maximum period of study shall include any periods of suspension of study.
Article 6
(Review)
1. The student may apply for a review by submitting a duly completed designated form with the new evidence which has never been considered to the Student Affairs Office within three working days after receiving the notice of penalties. Those applications which are submitted late or without all the necessary documents will not be accepted.
2. The sole purpose of review is to reconsider whether there was a breach of the examination discipline or cheating in the examination. Review applications for reconsidering the imposed penalties will not be accepted.
3. The review application and the relevant case file are sent to the academic unit to which the student belongs for further investigation and hearings, so as to deliberate and determine whether there was a breach of the examination discipline or cheating in the examination.
4. The procedures as provided for in Clauses 4 — 8, Article 4, are applicable to the review application under this article after necessary adaptation.
5. The relevant penalties will not be imposed until the review process is completed.
6. If the student disagrees with the review result, an appeal application may be made in accordance with the following article.
Article 7
(Appeal)
1. The student may apply for an appeal by submitting a duly completed designated form to the Student Affairs Office within three working days after receiving the notice of penalties or review result. Those applications which are submitted late or without all the necessary documents will not be accepted.
2. The sole purpose of appeal is to reconsider whether there was a breach of the examination discipline or cheating in the examination. Appeal applications for reconsidering the imposed penalties will not be accepted.
3. The relevant penalties will not be imposed until the appeal process is completed.
4. The appeal application and the relevant case file are submitted to the Senate, which should assign a team to investigate the case.
5. The Senate assigns three academic staff members to the investigation team of the case and appoints one of them as the chairperson.
6. The investigation team submits a final decision on the appeal application within ten working days to the Senate for its deliberation and resolution.
7. The Student Affairs Office informs the student by writing of the appeal result, copying in the Pedagogic and Research Affairs Office, the Registry and the academic unit to which the student belongs.
Article 8
(Information)
1. Those who intend to report the commission of cheating in the examination should provide their real names, state the specific facts and attach the relevant evidence.
2. Any report made without the informant’s real name, or with an alias or a name verified not to belong to the informant, will not be accepted.
Article 9
(Confidentiality)
1. The academic units and the academic supporting units should keep confidential all cases of breaching the examination discipline and cheating in the examination which have not yet been confirmed.
2. Those with knowledge of the cases of breaching the examination discipline and cheating in the examination by reason of their positions or involvement in the procedure are obliged to keep the knowledge confidential; the duty of confidentiality does not affect the applicability of the relevant articles of these Regulations regarding the notification and copying-in procedure.
Article 10
(Questions and Omissions)
Any questions and omissions arising out of the application of these Regulations should be resolved by the Senate.
This English version is a translation of the original regulations in Chinese. Should there be any discrepancies between the two versions, the Chinese version shall prevail.