Expectations
Attendance
All students registered at the University are expected to be actively engaged with their course, to be attending lectures and seminars on a regular basis and to be living within a reasonable distance of the University. Failure to adhere to this can result in being referred to the University Continuation Committee who have the power to terminate your registration at the University.
In particular:
"All full-time students must live within a reasonable distance of the University" (regulation 36.1)
"Students are expected to engage fully with their course of study, take responsibility for their own learning and co-operate with their department and wider University as members of the University community. Students must comply with the requirements for their course as set out by the department." (regulation 36.2)
Monitoring Points
Starting from October 2009 every department in the University has been required to introduce "monitoring points'' to monitor the attendance of students and make sure that they are engaging with their degrees.
Over the year there will be up to 13 "monitor points" for every student in the department, details will be circulated separately since they vary depending on which year you are in. Examples include attendance at supervisions, handing in at least 80% of specified assignments and seeing your tutor at appropriate times. Missing monitor points has consequences, three will trigger an interview with your tutor, if you miss as many as eight you could have your registration at the University terminated.
If you attend your lectures, complete the majority of your assessed assignments (read core for first and second years), and see your tutor when you are asked then none of this will affect you as the monitor points will be ticked off and you will not trigger any events. If you are building up missed monitor points then it is a sign that you are not engaging with the degree, and you should discuss this with your tutor sooner rather than later.
Please be aware that you will be contacted should we become concerned about your missed Contact Points, and we have to report missed points to the University who will also contact you directly.
A. After three Contact Points are missed we will contact you to investigate whether you are having any problems that are preventing you from fully engaging with your course.
B. After four Contact Points are missed we may refer you to the relevant professional within the University welfare system who could help you, such as the Senior Tutor or the Counselling Service, as appropriate.
C. After six Contact Points are missed you will be contacted to make you aware that you are at risk of being recommended for termination of your registration at the University.
D. After eight Contact Points are missed the Department is able to invoke Regulation 36 (see below link to the University Calendar) to begin termination of registration proceedings and your case is handed over to the Academic Office.
International students should be particularly aware of the consequences of missing Contact Points: the Academic Office is obliged to report to the UK Borders Agency if any students have been found not to be engaging with and attending their degree course.
The Mathematics Department brings to your attention the following two warnings in the most emphatic terms possible.
Monitoring FAQs
Q: What if I cannot meet a monitoring point due to factors beyond my control, such as a family emergency?
A: If you have any extenuating circumstances which may prevent you attending a monitoring point, please submit this information, along with any relevant evidence, to Tabula via the mitigating circumstances ribbon.
Q: I have been incorrectly recorded as having missed a monitoring point. How can I get this fixed?
A: If you have been incorrectly recorded as having missed a monitoring point, please email UGMathematics@warwick.ac.uk to ask for the record to be corrected. Please include any relevant evidence (such as an email from your personal tutor if the monitoring point relates to a personal tutor meeting).
Cheating (including Plagiarism)
See below for specific advice in using AI.
Plagiarism is copying another person's writings or ideas and presenting them as your own. It covers copying from the internet, from books or other published sources, and from friends or other students. Though some examples of plagiarism are very obvious, there are circumstances - for example where students are encouraged to work together but to write up their results separately - where you may need to seek advice about what is and what is not allowed. If you are uncertain you should ask. For certain pieces of assessed work you will be asked to sign a declaration that the work is your own, or will be asked to list the people with whom you have worked (if this is allowed).
For weekly assignments copying a friend's piece of work, while risking getting caught and punished, is also an extremely ill advised thing to do for other reasons. We set the assignments for you to learn the material and have a better understanding. If you copy the work just to get (a very small amount of) credit not only are you not going through the necessary process to understand the material, but in addition, your supervisor will not realise that you do not understand it and will not help you to do so.
Cheating also covers more obvious sins such as copying in tests, stealing work from other students (either electronically or in another way), or taking your mobile phone into an examination. Note that you are guilty of cheating if you assist another student to cheat (for example by allowing them to copy your work).
For more advice see the University's page on Academic Integrity.
Both cheating and plagiarism are taken very seriously by the Department. The University rules governing how cases are dealt with are in Regulation 11 of the University Calendar.
The Department has decided that every suspected case of cheating or plagiarism will be dealt with strictly according to the regulations, and will be referred to a person in the Department designated by the Chair of Department who will keep records of each case. It is not possible to negotiate with individual lecturers.
The following consequences are non-negotiable:
1) Where a penalty is appropriate this will be exacted according the rules in the University Calendar section 11. In particular, where the Department means to deal with the case itself:
- there will be a formal letter to the student signed by the Chair;
- the student will be asked to formally accept the penalty or to launch a formal appeal;
- the student's Department and the appropriate Board of Examiners will be formally informed of any penalty imposed;
- copies of all such formal letters will be kept in a file in Maths until the student concerned has graduated - they will be destroyed on graduation if there have been no further similar instances.
2) For the purpose of the regulations the Department deems that the wording ``the piece of work concerned'' in the Regulations means:
- the whole of the assessed component of a module for which the majority of the credit comes from an examination (so cheating on a single homework assignment or class test may mean that the Department sets to zero the marks on the whole assessed component of a module).
- all the work submitted for a single deadline for those modules which are more completely assessed (so that, for example, cheating on any part of an assessment may mean that the Department sets to zero the marks on the whole of that assessment, even if it is broken into several parts.)
You should note that aggravated cases, including second or subsequent cases, will be dealt with by the University, and the penalties in these cases can be much more severe.
Using AI
The use or not of artificial intelligence for assignments is a fast moving area within the University. For the latest University policies and advice see the subpage on the Academic Integrity Framework page.
In the Mathematics department all assignments should have the policy for that assignment clearly stated. The default (especially for small credit assignments) is that Artificial Intelligence is strictly forbidden, and if suspected will be treated as plagiarism. Where it is permitted, you must declare the use of a generative Artificial Intelligence (such as ChatGPT) in your submission, including your reason for using and the input used to generate it. If in doubt, consult with the respective module leader before submitting anything.
To computer hackers
The University Disciplinary Committee has recently fined and issued a formal reprimand to a student for writing a program which trapped users' passwords and usercodes, and it has been confirmed that such matters constitute a Major Offence within the University's Disciplinary Regulations.
The intention of the University Disciplinary Committee was that activities such as the following will henceforth be regarded as ``Major Offences'' within the Disciplinary Regulations:
(a) Usercode/password trap.
(b) Unauthorised use of another person's usercode and/or password.
(c) Unauthorised access to other users' files.
(d) Unauthorised access to system files.
(e) Unauthorised writing of programs detrimental to, or disruptive of the computing system.
(f) Breach of the University's Data Protection Registration.
(g) Any attempt to commit the above breaches of security, even if unsuccessful.
This list is merely indicative of the type of offence and is not exhaustive.
See www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/its/helpfaq/policies/ for details of rules governing the use of University and Department computing facilities.