University Student Handbook (Proctors’ and Assessor’s Memorandum)
The Proctors and Assessor are senior officers of the University elected by colleges to serve for one year, with responsibility for University examinations, conduct and welfare. Students are expected to be familiar with the contents of the University Student Handbook (also known as the Proctors’ and Assessor’s Memorandum). The University Handbook is available at www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/student-handbook
The topics covered include welfare, fitness to study, examinations, conduct, disciplinary procedures and rights.
As well as providing general information and guidance, this handbook gives you formal notification (and explanation) of the University’s codes on residence, intellectual property rights, examinations, conduct and complaints. Please take time to read the information, so that you do not end up at a disadvantage should you get into difficulties or want to exercise your rights under any of the procedures.
Course Handbooks
All programmes of study should have a Course Handbook which will contain important information specific to your course. Your department, faculty or school will make you aware of how you can access your Course Handbook so please be in touch with your department if you do not know how to do so as you are expected to understand its content and will find it useful.
The University Student Handbook, alongside Exam Regulations, your Course Handbook, and this College Handbook, all form part of the regulatory framework of the University. Therefore, it is important that you read all these documents.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement.
It is your responsibility to understand the University’s rules on plagiarism. It is essential that you understand the definition and become familiar with the University’s statement on plagiarism:
www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism
If you are unsure of any aspect on how to acknowledge your sources, be sure to discuss this with your Supervisor. Even if you are a part-time student, perhaps with limited experience of academic writing, the responsibility is on you to understand fully the term “plagiarism” and how to avoid it and the potential consequences of inadvertent or deliberate plagiarism. Plagiarism is treated as a serious breach of academic integrity. You may wish to take the free online skills course on ‘Avoiding Plagiarism’
Backing up work
From time-to-time students around the University have had laptops and valuables stolen or damaged. In some cases, this results in a disastrous loss of essential material, such as an essay, research data, or a dissertation that is a key part of assessment. The University Proctors, who oversee the administration of examinations and assessments, will not usually accept any sort of computer difficulties, problems with printing or backing up work as valid reasons for submitting examination work later than the official deadline. Therefore, you are urged to back up all your written work and on no account to store back-ups or notes that you have made while writing your essays, with your laptop. Keep your back-up material separate – preferably in at least two copies in different locations. Depending on your department’s information security policy, you may wish to use a cloud backup product such as Microsoft OneDrive, alongside your normal backup routine. For further advice please see www.infosec.ox.ac.uk/protect-my-computer