Student Conduct

You should keep your statement to the Senate Assessors as concise as possible – no more than two pages. The Senate Assessors may be interviewing a large number of students and have a lot of statements to read in a short time period. 

For the Academic Conduct Committee you may need to submit a longer statement as the alleged offence is likely to be more serious and/or complex and thus we may require more information from you.

For the Senate Assessors, you need to submit your statement and any other documentation two full working days before your interview (e.g. if your interview is on a Monday you need to submit by 9am on the previous Thursday). Please do not submit your statement after the deadline as the Assessors may not have time to read it.

For the Academic Conduct Committee, you need to submit material five full working days before the Committee date (i.e., one full calendar week and taking into account any public holidays). The exact date for submission will be detailed in the letter sent to you with the Committee papers.

Please do not submit your statement any later than these deadlines unless you have been given permission by the Student Conduct Team to do so.

You should only provide information that is relevant to the case. You should say whether or not you accept the allegation is true, and why.

If you are accepting the allegation is true, you may wish to include an explanation as to why the offence occurred, and any mitigating information (e.g. relating to illness, disability or other personal circumstances).

If you are denying the allegation, you may explain what has happened and provide evidence that supports your case.

If you want the Assessors or the Committee to consider medical, disability-related, or other personal circumstances, it is recommended that you provide relevant evidence (such as a GP’s letter, a hospital appointment letter where this is available, or an assessment report relating to your disability).  Medical or personal evidence must relate to the same time period as the conduct issue for which you have been referred.   We recognise that an assessment report of a disability may not be concurrent with the time period in the same way.  If you do not include evidence, mitigating circumstances may not be considered.  Any evidence you have should be included when you submit your statement. 

At the meeting we will ask you questions that might include:

• How do you go about preparing your work – what is your academic process?
• Have you received training in referencing and avoiding plagiarism?
• What is your understanding of what plagiarism is?

You should not include screenshots of paragraphs, figures, graphs and other academic content with explanations of how you reached your conclusions on the topic in your statement.  Senate Assessors are not assessing the academic content of your work and are always chosen from outwith your subject area.

Very brief statements are not usually helpful to those who are conducting the meeting. Overly long and/or repetitive statements should also be avoided.

For a Senate Assessor interview, the two Senate Assessors and the Clerk will see the material you submit.

For an Academic Conduct Committee meeting, the members of the Committee, the Senior Senate Assessor for Student Conduct, and the Clerk will see what you submit.

Depending on the case, we may also need to show a copy of your statement to the person who has made a complaint about you so that they can respond, but this will not always be necessary. The Student Conduct Team will advise you if this is required.

Yes, you can get help from several sources. First of all, we suggest that you review the SRC web pages which have useful advice about what to include in your personal statement: Plagiarism (glasgowunisrc.org)

We also recommend that students seek help and advice from the SRC Advice Centre (https://www.glasgowunisrc.org/advice/).

Alternatively, you can seek help from family or friends.