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Vivas, Interviews and Use of Unfair Means

Interviews

An individual candidate may be asked to attend an interview by the Chairman of Examiners. This would be with the Examiners and relates only to assessed work produced outside of an examination hall i.e. thesis, long essay, dissertation, laboratory notebook, project report. This is not a viva or an oral examination, but an interview to clarify information needed by the Examiners before they can accurately assess your work.

There are a number of scenarios where the Examiners may request an interview with the candidate. These include:

  • To make sure the work is as complete as the candidate intended it to be.
  • That no sections, sheets or pages are missing.
  • To have a candidate decipher an illegible passage when it is excessive to have the whole document re-written legibly or typed.
  • To determine for what written paper the work is substituted or which of a number of possible papers it was supposed to deal with.
  • To investigate whether unfair means have been used in the production of the work i.e. plagiarism.

The Board of Examinations will be informed if a candidate is requested to attend an interview and it is likely that the candidate may be removed temporarily from the class list whilst it is determined what class they should be given. Unless the interview is about unfair means, the examiners marking the candidate's work will conduct it. As far as is possible the interview will not be held during the period of the student's other exams.

Viva

A viva is a form of oral examination taken at the end of the examination period. The use of vivas as a form of assessment is not consistent across the different Triposes. Some Triposes (i.e. Archaeology and Anthropology) have a compulsory viva. Some viva on dissertations only, others on any aspect of the papers chosen by the student. Some students may be offered a viva where there was a need to clarify a certain aspect of their examinations or where their examinations have been disrupted.

Use of Unfair Means

Written papers

Instances where is suspected that a student is cheating in the exam hall are most likely to be identified and reported by the Invigilator. If action is necessary, it will be taken after the Examiners have marked the scripts as usual.

If an Examiner, whilst marking a script, believes cheating has occurred, they will inform the Chairman of Examiners, who in turn will inform the Board of Examinations, the Senior Proctor and the Examinations Officer, who will then take action if they see fit.

All other forms of assessment (especially dissertations and theses)

If an Examiner feels that unfair means (e.g., unacknowledged copying of another candidate's work or plagiarism) may have been used by a candidate, they will inform the Chairman of Examiners. It is most likely that the student will be asked to attend an oral examination or an interview. In either case, the people who will be present will be the Chairman of Examiners, the Examiner/s marking the work concerned and the student. The student's tutor will also be invited to attend. A record of the interview will be kept and the candidate will not be seen until all their other examinations are completed.

The examiners will seek to establish whether the work is the candidate's own and, where necessary, put their concerns in the straightest terms possible.

If the Examiners are satisfied that the work is the candidate's own, then no further action will be required.

If as a result of the interview it is clear that some minor infringement of the rules has occurred, then the Examiners will take what action they feel is necessary.

The most extreme action Examiners will take would be to award no marks for the work concerned. However, if the examiners feel that the case is too serious for them to deal with themselves, or facts are unclear or in dispute, they will inform the Senior Proctor and send them the evidence on which the allegations were brought. This will be done with a view of taking it to the University's Court of Discipline.

CUSU provides confidential, free, non-judgemental support and information to individual students. Contact the CUSU Education Officer, Welfare Officer or Women's Officer by email, phone or by dropping into the office if you would like support or information on any topic.