How does the Disciplinary Committee of the FIR work? Looking back at the academic year 2022/2023

In the period of the winter semester 2022/23 there were eight acts of students of the FIR, which were submitted to the Disciplinary Committee of the Faculty of International Relations for consideration whether a disciplinary offence had been committed. The substantive areas of allegations were as follows:

• cheating on exams or tests (e.g. copying, earphone)
• plagiarism

The most common suspicions

Most often, the disciplinary committee deals with suspicions of plagiarism. The Study Regulations of the VSE prohibit students from “passing off someone else’s work as their own, in particular by using part of someone else’s work in their own work without proper referencing or by using part of someone else’s work verbatim without apparent citation” (Article 5(5)(b) of the Study and Examination Regulations of the VSE). In such cases, the Disciplinary Board first assesses whether there has been an improper use of someone else’s work.

Ing. JUDr. Zuzana Trávníčková, Ph.D., Chair of the Disciplinary Committee of the FIR

Another type of violation that the Disciplinary Board has had to deal with repeatedly is various forms of cheating in the performance of study obligations. This can include the use of pull-tabs, mobile phones and smartwatches in situations where such aids were not allowed in the test or exam preparation. The use of a communication device – a ‘spy’ earpiece – has also been reported.

How is the assessment carried out?

The Disciplinary Committee has anti-plagiarism checking protocols which all final theses submitted to InSIS at the FIR VSE and a number of other written works of students, whether submitted to InSIS or in other forms, are subject to. It also compares the text of the student’s thesis with a text or texts that have been identified as similar. It always ascertains whether the inconsistencies in referencing may have been caused by an oversight on the part of the student (forgetting quotation marks, omitting to refer to the source in individual cases) or whether it is more likely to be a systematic and conscious appropriation of someone else’s work, sometimes ‘masked’ by the use of synonyms and minor linguistic or formal changes to the text taken. As is clear from the study regulations, the ratio of machine-determined correspondence is not in itself relevant.

If the Disciplinary Committee concludes that a student has violated the VSE Study Regulations, it considers other circumstances and, in particular, the seriousness of the conduct in order to propose an appropriate sanction. The seriousness of the offence may be increased by a high proportion of the text taken in the student’s thesis, by an attempt to “mask” the text taken, or by the fact that the student committed the offence in the final thesis, after the defence of which he/she would receive a university degree.

Sanctions for violation of the Study Regulations

The seriousness of the offences or breaches may vary and the Disciplinary Board will then propose a sanction in the light of this and the other circumstances of the offence. In a situation where it is proven that the student has acted intentionally, that he/she has spent energy, time and sometimes even financial resources to prepare for the fraudulent act, the Disciplinary Committee may propose the unconditional expulsion of the student from studies. The same applies in the case of extremely serious violations. In the case of less serious offences, the committee may propose that the student be reprimanded or suspended from studies.

Of the six cases mentioned above, the Disciplinary Board concluded its consideration of four cases at the end of April. Three involved problematic work with sources and incorrect use of other people’s sources (plagiarism), and one case involved cheating in exam preparation. In two cases, the disciplinary committee assessed the students’ actions as not only intentional but also extremely serious and proposed their expulsion from the course. In the other two cases, the seriousness of the conduct was not so high and the Disciplinary Board proposed that the students be suspended.

Ing. JUDr. Zuzana Trávníčková, Ph.D., Chair of the Disciplinary Committee of the FIR

Disciplinary proceedings at the FIR are governed by the Faculty Disciplinary Regulations, the VSE Study Regulations, the Higher Education Act and the Administrative Code. The student has the right to express his/her opinion on the matter, to consult the disciplinary file, to be represented, and if he/she declares that he/she does not understand Czech, he/she may obtain an interpreter at his/her own expense.

Find out more about The Disciplinary Committee of the Faculty here.