ARTICLE 8.1 IRREGULARITIES, FRAUD AND PLAGIARISM

8.1.1 An irregularity is an act and/or omission by a student in violation of the rules, guidelines and instructions relating to (the completion of) educational units and/or examinations. This includes, among others, fraud and plagiarism.

8.1.2 Fraud, including ‘plagiarism’, refers to actions or omissions by a student, intended or not, which make it impossible in whole or in part to properly evaluate their knowledge, understanding and skills or creating the opportunity for others to commit fraud or plagiarism. Fraud includes but is not limited to a student:

§ having any unauthorised aids, texts or notes, or unauthorised electronic aids and/or communication devices at their disposal during an examination;

§ having communicated or tried to communicate with fellow students during an examination, either verbally or through gesture, without permission from an exam supervisor, examiner, or a member of the Board of Examiners;

§ having copied or tried to copy fellow students’ (examination) answers, or having given another student the opportunity to copy their own answers;

§ having posed as someone else or having themselves represented by someone else at the examination;

§ having deliberately misled or tried to mislead an exam supervisor/invigilator, an examiner, a corrector or the Board of Examiners with respect to the exam(ination), or having deliberately provided an opportunity for them to be misled;

§ having collaborated on a graded assignment, paper or practical exercise, whereas this was not explicitly allowed (i.e. collusion);

§ submitting work or assignments acquired from or written by a third party (whether or not for payment) and/or (partially) generated by artificial intelligence software, such as ChatGPT. Plagiarism means the presentation of ideas or words from one’s own or someone else’s sources without proper acknowledgment of the sources. Plagiarism is considered to be fraud. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to a student:

§ using or copying their personal or other people’s texts, data, ideas or thoughts without adequate reference to the source (and thus passing it off as their own);

§ presenting the structure or central body of thought from others without adequate reference to the source and thus passing it off as their own;

§ not clearly indicating literal or almost literal quotations in the text, for example via quotation marks or an appropriate layout;

§ paraphrasing the content of their own or other people’s texts without adequate reference to the source;

§ copying video, audio or examination material, software and programme codes from others without adequate reference to the source and thus passing them off as their own;

§ submitting work or assignments acquired from or written by a third party (whether or not for payment) and/or (partially) generated by artificial intelligence software, such as ChatGPT, and passing them off as their own.

ARTICLE 8.2 MEASURES/SANCTIONS IN CASE OF IRREGULARITIES, FRAUD AND PLAGIARISM

8.2.1 a. If the Board of Examiners determines that a student has committed an irregularity in any examination or part(s) thereof, the Board of Examiners may take appropriate measures and/or impose sanctions as per paragraph 4 and 5 of this Article. b. In departure of Article 1 section 5 of the General UM Regulation for Fraud and Irregularities of any academic year, as published on the UM website, if the Board of Examiners determines that an irregularity has been established in a group assignment, it may take appropriate measures and/or impose sanctions for all students involved in the group assignment as per paragraph 4 and 5 of this Article.

8.2.2 The Board of Examiners may only (decide to) impose measures/sanctions if an irregularity indeed could be established and after having given the student the opportunity to put forward their view on the matter during a hearing.

8.2.3 If an irregularity has been established and, if applicable, a sanction has been imposed, then the Board of Examiners will include the decision in the student’s file. The decision can be taken into account in any future event of this nature and this might lead to a more severe sanction.

8.2.4 When an irregularity, as defined in Article 8.1 of this EMBA-EER has been established, the Board of Examiners may decide to impose any of the following measure/sanctions, referred to in Article 7.12b of the Act/WHW, or a combination thereof upon the student:

§ a reprimand/official warning; and/or

§ declare an examination (or component thereof) invalid; and/or

§ exclusion from participation or further participation of one or more examinations or exams at the SBE for a period of time to be determined by the Board of Examiners, with a maximum period of one year.

8.2.5 In serious cases of an irregularity or if a student is found guilty of repetition of an irregularity, the Board of Examiners can propose to the UM Executive Board that the student(s) concerned should be permanently deregistered from the study programme

MaastrichtMBA (2025) Education & Examination Regulations. Executive MBA – 2025/2026