The Dean of the faculty or the director of an independent institute or service centre will investigate the suspected infringement, assess it and decide on the use of suitable investigation methods. The student will be sent a written notification indicating the infringement they are being suspected of and the student will be given an opportunity to be heard in the matter. The hearing will, primarily, be implemented so that a written statement is requested from the student. Where required, the hearing may be organised orally. A request for a statement or an invitation to a hearing will be sent to the student for information by post or e-mail. Email can be used if a permission for its use has been obtained from the student. Other parties may also be heard in suspected infringements. Frauds can also be investigated by using the plagiarism detection system or based on video recordings.
If, instead of a primary written hearing, it is decided that the hearing be conducted as an oral hearing, it must be documented in the form of signed minutes. The minutes must indicate who were present, when the hearing was held and what was the purpose of the hearing, as well as the opinion of the concerned party on the matter and their explanations on the reports, which may affect the decision made in the case. The student may bring a person to support them at the hearing.
After the hearing, the Dean or the Director of the independent institute or service centre concerned will decide whether an infringement has occurred (if not, the case will be dropped), whether the infringement is minor or severe, and what further action is needed in the matter, if any. If the Dean considers that no infringement has taken place, the student and the teacher will be informed of this, e.g., by e-mail. An infringement may be considered to be minor, e.g., when it is a one-off act that results from carelessness or ignorance, and the infringement has caused only minor damage. The Dean issues a written notification on minor infringements. Where required, the Dean will also recommend that the teacher rejects the related study attainment or lowers the student’s grade. The person in charge of the course is responsible for rejecting the study attainment or lowering the grade. The sanction given by the Dean or the director of an independent institute or service centre will be communicated to the student, the teacher, the head of the department/school of the degree programme and preparing officers for information and for possible measures.
The decision of a teacher to reject a study attainment and to lower the grade is a decision concerning the grading of a course, for which rectification can be applied from the university’s Board of Appeal.
If the Dean or the Director of the independent institute or service centre concerned considers, after having heard the student, that a more serious infringement has been committed, they will report the matter in writing to the Rector and deliver the documents related to the matter to the Rector. When assessing the seriousness of the infringement, account will be taken of the recurrence, extent and intentionality of the fraud.