1. Definition of violation of good academic practice and contemptible behaviour
1.1 The members, incl. the students, of Tallinn University of Technology, shall be guided in their activity by the Principles of Academic Ethics (Code of Academic Ethics).
1.2 The activities listed in subsection 35 (1) of the Academic Policies are deemed to be student violation of good academic practice.
1.3 Contemptible behaviour means violation of the generally accepted standards of conduct.
2. Handling student violations of good academic practice and contemptible behaviour
2.1 The lecturer shall lay down the procedure for assessing students’ knowledge. At the beginning of a course, the lecturer shall inform students of the rules for assessing students’ knowledge, the requirements for the form and content of student papers prepared in the course and verify compliance with good academic practice.
2.2 If a student makes use of help from others or violates the good academic practice in any other way, the lecturer has the right to remove a student form a knowledge test or refuse to assess the submitted assignment. In both cases the lecturer shall mark “0” (failed) or “M” (failed) as the result of the specific knowledge test or written assignment or “0” or “M” as the final grade.
2.3 Where violation of good academic practice is suspected in a graduation thesis, the chairman of the defence committee shall be informed thereof. The chairman of the defence committee or persons appointed by him/her shall decide whether the thesis contains plagiarism. If necessary, the plagiarism report is forwarded to the supervisor of the thesis. If plagiarism occurs in a graduation thesis, the chairman of the defence committee has the right to refuse to allow a thesis to be defended.
2.4 A lecturer, a chairman of the defence committee or an employee may request handling of a student’s violation of good academic practice or contemptible behaviour by the dean. To open a procedure, a request with a description of the problem and, if necessary, additional documents shall be submitted to the e-mail address of the head of the dean’s office.
2.5 If necessary, the dean forms a committee for handling the violation of academic practice or contemptible behaviour. The committee can include vice-deans, heads of the departments, programme directors, teaching staff, employees and representatives of students.
2.6. The committee has the right to request oral or written explanations about the violations from the student and other parties involved.
2.7 The committee shall issue a recommendation to the dean to close the case, to issue a letter of reprimand to the student or to exmatriculate the student. The committee makes a recommendation to close the case if it finds that issuing the letter of reprimand or exmatriculation of the student is not justified.
2.8 Within 30 days of the receipt of the request, the dean shall decide either to close the case, to issue a letter of reprimand to the student or to make a recommendation to the relevant vice-rector to exmatriculate the student.
2.9 A student who disagrees with the exmatriculation procedure has the right to file an appeal with an administrative court under the conditions and pursuant to the procedure provided by the Code of Administrative Court Procedure.
3. Handling lecturer and employee violations of good academic practice and contemptible behaviour
3.1 Lecturer and employee violations of good academic practice and contemptible behaviour shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the Employment Contracts Act and the Work Procedure Rules.
3.2 If a student suspects that a lecturer has violated the principles of academic ethics or acted contemptibly, the student shall contact the following persons (the persons shall be contacted only in case of failure to reach an agreement by previous negotiations and communication):
3.2.1 the programme director of the study programme where the student is studying;
3.2.2 the head of the department where the lecturer is employed.
3.3 If an agreement satisfactory to all parties involved is not reached upon recourse to the programme director or the head of the department, the student has the right to refer the matter to the dean.
3.4 When referring the matter to the dean, a request with a description of the problem and, if necessary, additional documents shall be submitted to the e-mail address of the head of the dean’s office in order to open a procedure. The dean shall make a decision within 30 days of the receipt of the request.
3.5 If the student disagrees with the dean’s decision, he/she is entitled to have recourse to the Academic Ethics Committee in accordance with the procedure provided for in the Statute of the Academic Ethics Committee.
3.6 If a lecturer or an employee disagrees with the dean’s decision that may involve legal consequences under employment law (a reprimand by the employer, cancellation of the employment contract, etc.), he/she has, based on the corresponding personnel order, the right to have recourse to the labour dispute committee or the court for the protection of his/her violated rights.