Academic Policies
Academic Honesty
Brentwood University takes academic honesty very seriously. Students are expected to always submit original work, and outside sources should be appropriately credited whenever used. Works that require citation include, but are not limited to, hard copy or electronic publications (copyrighted or not), communication (verbal or otherwise) originating from identifiable sources. Academic dishonesty occurs when: students use words or ideas that are not their original work in assignments, citations are not included for all used outside sources, work is recycled from another course taken by the same student (unless agreed with the instructor in advance), documents, such as transcripts or diplomas are forged, etc.
Preventing Plagiarism
Faculty members are trained and encouraged to try and prevent plagiarism in their classes. Some steps in that direction are for a faculty member to make it very clear, through announcements or assignment instructions, what constitutes plagiarism (as well as the potential consequences), and how assignments and citations should be formatted. Both students and faculty members are encouraged to check assignments through the use of plagiarism checker software. Instances of plagiarism are addressed immediately.
Academic Honesty Procedure
When a faculty member determines that academic dishonesty in an assignment has occurred, the faculty member can address the issue directly with the student by considering one of the following options: educating the student on plagiarism (whenever it is unintentional or due to deficiency in understanding of what plagiarism is), allowing a student to resubmit the assignment, or taking steps to report the offence using the procedure outlined below along with a disciplinary action such as issuing a Failing grade on the assignment, reducing the final grade, or issuing a Failing grade for the course.
- If the instructor and student cannot resolve the plagiarism issue, the instructor should submit an academic dishonesty complaint form to the University academic authorities, with copy sent to the student. The student will have an opportunity to respond to the allegation.
- The University academic authorities will assign an Academic Honesty Committee, which would review the forms and communications and will determine an appropriate action to address the issue. Some of the possible outcomes include student removal from class, loss of semester credit, documented counseling, or in extreme cases, expulsion from the university. The University President is informed of all reported instances and the actions taken to address them.
Academic Freedom Policy
Brentwood University is committed to assuring full academic freedom to faculty members. Confident in the qualifications and expertise of its faculty members, the college encourages its faculty members to exercise their individual judgments regarding the content of the assigned courses, organization of topics and instructional methods, providing only that these judgments are made within the context of the course descriptions as currently published, and providing that the instructional methods are those official sanctioned by the institution, methods for which the institution has received oversight approval. Brentwood University encourages instructors and students to engage in discussion and dialog. Students and faculty members alike are encouraged to freely express views, however controversial, as long as they believe it would advance understanding in their specialized discipline or sub-disciplines.
Library Services
The university offers library resources with peer-reviewed and full-text journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, e-books, podcasts, audio, and video to support their academic studies. Students will also have a choice to find the martial from variety of libraries.
More information about Brentwood University’s academic policies here.
