Things you should know before entering the exam venue
Every year, students at NHH are caught cheating on compulsory assignments, home exams and school exams.
Sanctions against cheating are regulated by the Universities and University Colleges Act. Section 4-8 and 4-9 of this Act states that a student who has attempted to cheat or who wilfully or through gross negligence has cheated may have his/her exam annulled and be excluded from attending courses for up to one year. The rules on exclusion also apply to aiding and abetting.
The sanction against cheating or attempted cheating shall be subject to a concrete assessment. As a rule, the exam in question will be annulled. As a main rule, the student is also expelled from all Norwegian institutions for higher educating for one or two semesters.
As a student at NHH, you have confirmed that you have familiarised yourself with the rules that apply to exams and other relevant for your studies at NHH. Moreover, you have an individual responsibility to keep yourself up to date on changes.
There are mainly three acts and regulations you need to be aware of:
- The Universities and University Colleges Act
- Regulations for full-time study programmes
- Supplementary regulations
Among other things, these regulations contain provisions on the type of calculators permitted, where backpacks, coats/jackets, mobile phones, wallets etc. shall be stored during exams, how to cite sources in home exams etc.
As explained above, the consequences of breaking the rules set out in the regulations that apply to NHH can be severe. I therefore encourage everyone to read Chapter 4 and 5 regulations for full-time study programmes extra carefully, in addition to Chapter 4 and 5 the supplementary regulations.
The expectation to your cautiousness when entering the exam venue are strict. In a case from 2012 a law student at the University of Bergen (UiB) was caught with notes on his desk in the exam venue. The student said that he had forgotten about the notes and never intended to use an illegal aid during the exam. UiB nevertheless excluded the student for one semester, and his exam was annulled. The case eventually ended up in the Supreme Court, cf. Supreme Court Reports Rt. 2015 p. 995, which accepted the student’s explanation that the notes were on his desk because he had forgotten about them. The Supreme Court nevertheless found that this constituted cheating and that the student had acted with gross negligence. The decision regarding annulment and exclusion for one semester was therefore upheld.
A key element of the Supreme Court judgment was the fact that the preparatory works to the Act repeatedly emphasise that stringent requirements apply to students’ due care in exam situations. In short, this means that a student's most important task when entering the exam venue is to make sure that he/she does not have any illegal aids with him/her or in other ways acts in a manner that is in violation of the examination regulations.
As a student, you are subject to very strict requirements, and the sanctions for acting in violation of the regulations are equally strict. Therefore, take an extra look at the regulations the night before your next exam and check your pockets before entering the exam venue. Also ensure that you do not have anything on your desk or nearby that should not be there.
Good luck on your exams!