Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest, and responsible manner. Academic integrity is a guiding principle for all academic activity at The Beijing Center (TBC), and all members of the TBC community are expected to act in accordance with this principle.

Standards

Failing to meet the following standards is a serious violation of personal honesty and the academic ideals that bind TBC into a learning community. These standards apply to both individual and group assignments. Individuals working in a group may be held responsible if one of the group members has violated one or more of these standards.

1.    Students may not plagiarize

Plagiarism involves taking and using specific words, phrases, or ideas of others without proper acknowledgement of the sources. Students may not:

1. Submit material copied from a published or unpublished source.
2. Submit material that is not cited appropriately.
3. Use another person’s unpublished work or examination material.
4. Allow or pay another party to prepare or write an assignment.
5. Purchase, acquire, or use a pre-written assignment for credit.

2. Students may not submit the same work for credit for more than one assignment (known as self-plagiarism)

If a student plans to submit work with similar or overlapping content two or more times for any purpose, the student should consult with all instructors prior to submission of the work to make certain that such submission will not violate this standard.

3. Students may not fabricate data

All experimental data, observations, interviews, statistical surveys, and other information collected and reported as part of academic work must be authentic. Any alteration, e.g., the removal of statistical outliers, must be clearly documented. Data must not be falsified in any way.

4. Students may not collude

1. Students may not work with others on any exam, assignment or portion of an assignment without permission from the instructor.
2. Students’ work with one another on an exam or assignments may not exceed the terms of their instructors’ directions for collaboration as part of the assignment.
3. Students may not use work submitted by another student in a previous semester of a course.

5. Students may not cheat

1. Students may not obtain, distribute, or communicate examination materials prior to the scheduled examination without the consent of the instructor.
2. Students may not take an examination by proxy. Taking or attempting to take an exam for someone else is a violation by both the student enrolled in the course and the proxy.
3. Students may not attempt to change answers after an examination or an assignment has been submitted.
4. Students may not falsify medical or other documents for any reason.
5. Students may not use unauthorized study aids in an exam. Examples include, but are not limited to:
   1. Bringing notes into an exam that does not allow outside materials.
   2. Programming equations into a calculator when the instructor has indicated that students are to be tested on the recall of those same equations.
   3. Using any electronic device that allows students to look up, translate, calculate, or communicate information with someone else.

6. Students may not facilitate academic misconduct

For example, a student may not allow another student to copy from their exam or give their own work to another student.

Sanctions

1. An instructor is responsible for determining the sanctions for academic misconduct in the course sections they teach. Minimally, the instructor will assign the grade of a zero for the assignment or examination. The instructor may choose to impose a penalty grade of “F” for the course.
2. TBC Academic Director may add and/or elevate the initial sanctions based on a student’s conduct history, such as a penalty grade of “F” for the course, suspension, expulsion, and/or the inclusion of educational assignments.

Appeals

1. Students retain the right to appeal the determination made using the Academic Grievance Procedure described below.
2. The decision of the TBC Academic Director is final in all cases.

Academic Grievance Procedure

1. In the case of a grade dispute students must first attempt to resolve the matter with their individual professor.
2. If a resolution is not reached between the student and professor and if the student believes that a material academic grievance still exists, he or she may decide to initiate a formal written appeal. If a student initiates a formal written appeal the student should directly contact TBC Academic Advisor. After all relevant documents are submitted the Academic Advisor will conduct a thorough review of the case in individual dialogue with the student and the professor.  At this time the Academic Advisor will also inform the Professor that a student final grade appeal has been filed.  In the case of especially serious or unclear disputes the Academic Advisor may form a TBC committee to assist in resolution.  Within 14 days the Academic Advisor will reach a decision and judgment in the case.  The Academic Advisor will inform the student and professor of the decision and also inform the TBC Academic Director. 
3. In a situation where the student still judges that she or he has an unresolved academic grievance in relation to a final course grade, the student may decide to file an additional written appeal to the TBC Academic Director. In this case the student is to inform the Academic Advisor of such an “additional” appeal. 
4. Responsibilities and steps in filing an academic grievance case:
   1. Formal appeals of final grades are to be initiated by students who personally take responsibility for follow-through. If students do not follow-through on the steps outlined here the case is automatically considered closed after a period of 30 days.
   2. In rare cases, final grades may only be changed with the written approval of the TBC Academic Director. The Academic Director is the only person with the formal authority to change a final grade. 
   3. All formal appeals must be filed in writing and initiated by the student.
   4. Professors are required to provide additional information as requested by the Academic Advisor and/or the Academic Director.
   5. Formal appeals of final grades must be filed as soon as possible after the TBC Closing Ceremony. Formal appeals must be filed no later than 30 days after the scheduled TBC closing ceremony.
   6. If a final written appeal is formally made to the Academic Director the usual process is for the Academic Director to consult the filed documents, consult with the student, Academic Advisor, and the Professor. The decision reached by the Academic Director in the case is final.
   7. TBC treats all final grade dispute cases and the documents submitted as confidential and only shares this information on a “need to know” basis.
5. Should the Academic Director be the instructor involved with the dispute, another independent member of the TBC senior management will be designated as the person who would make the final decision in place of the Academic Director.