Disciplinary action soars at Edinburgh University

Cases of disciplinary action at the University of Edinburgh have more than tripled over the last five years, the latest figures show.

The news follows last month’s revelations that plagiarism by Scottish students is at a record high. The University disciplined 384 undergraduates in the 2009/10 academic year, compared with 111 during 2005/6.

The figure represents two per cent of undergraduate students at the University. Roughly half of these were for plagiarism.

As previously reported by The Journal, cases of detected plagiarism at Scottish universities have risen dramatically since the introduction of specialised software. The University of Edinburgh had the fourth-highest number of plagiarism cases in Scotland last year. 174 students were disciplined for plagiarism during the 2009/10 academic year, compared with just 68 in 2006/7.

However, no students have been expelled for plagiarism during the last five years. Students setting off false fire alarms or covering up the smoke alarms in University-owned accommodation are also prominent in the figures.

In 2008, fire crews were called out to the University of Edinburgh 512 times, costing fire services hundreds of thousands of pounds. Only four of these were for real fires. This has caused fatalities at some universities where students failed to evacuate the building during a fire, believing the alarm to be false.

The figures also revealed a small number of criminal offences, including students found using illegal substances, damaging property or participating in violent, disorderly or indecent behaviour. In such cases, students are fined £250 by the University.

A spokesperson for the University said: “Although the number of students subject to disciplinary action has increased in recent years, it is important to note that this still represents a very small minority of the student population.”

Unlike other universities, Edinburgh has not taken disciplinary action against students involved in campus protests over tuition fees earlier this year. Ten students at the University of Birmingham are currently facing disciplinary action for participating in an event similar to Edinburgh’s Appleton Tower sit-in.