NTNU treats cheating on exams with utmost seriousness. Cheating on exams may have serious consequences. Students who cheat may be excluded from NTNU for up to one year. In particularly serious cases, the student may be excluded for up to two years. Exclusion means that the student loses all access to NTNU and may be denied the right to take exams at other universities and university colleges in the same period. The exam in the course in which the student cheated will be annulled.

It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the rules that apply to the use of sources and references, and what support material or aids you are allowed to use.

The rules on cheating in exams also apply to compulsory activities that must be approved before the student can take the exam.

Both the person who gets help and the person who provides help during the exam have cheated, and the consequences may be the same for both of them.

NTNU’s Appeals Committee decides on sanctions/reactions to cheating.

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What is cheating

The following may be academic misconduct or examination offences/attempts at academic misconduct or examination offences if it is likely to provide an unfair advantage:

• Acting in violation of the applicable rules for the specific examination
• Using or having access to illegal aids during the examination
• Presenting someone else’s work as one’s own without sufficient source reference or marking of citations
• Submitting work of a practical or artistic nature that has been made by someone other than the student or students in question
• Submitting an answer that has been prepared by someone other than the student or students in question
• Unauthorized cooperation between students or groups
• Fabricating or falsifying data
• Wrongly obtaining access to the examination question papers before the examination starts
• Re-using one’s own previously submitted work that has produced results without stating this

The student’s subjective fault

Strict requirements are placed on students' diligence when taking exams. In order to void an exam due to cheating and expel a student, the student must have acted intentionally or with gross negligence. Intention is present if the cheating was intentional or done with awareness, i.e. the student was aware of what he or she was doing. It is not necessary that the student intended to cheat. Gross negligence is present when the student has behaved in a significantly blameworthy manner, warranting strong criticism for a lack of diligence.

Lack of source reference or marking of quotation (plagiarism)

This means that the student uses text or content that someone else has created and pretends to have written it themselves. It would be cheating to copy from sources on the internet, other people's assignments, textbooks, articles, etc. without clearly marking the quotation and where the quotations or content are taken from.

NTNU has a system that enables documents and exams to be checked for plagiarism. Assignments are checked for plagiarism against sources on the internet, text databases and other answer papers. The answers submitted for grading will be made available for plagiarism check against other students' answers. Answers that are submitted for grading are available for plagiarism control of other students' answers.

It is important to get to know the rules that apply to the use of sources and references. Here, you will find information on how to use and refer to sources, use of reference management tools and relevant courses.

If you are unsure of the rules that apply, contact your course lecturer.

Use of generative artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence (language models) is permitted aids unless otherwise stated in the exam set or course description. If use is detected that does not comply with the requirements or restrictions that have been set, it is considered the use of illegal aids and is considered cheating.

If text, images, code or other things generated by artificial intelligence (AI) are pasted directly into the answer without making the reader/examiner aware of this, it is considered publishing someone else's text as your own and falls under the concept of cheating. NTNU has decided in its guidelines for cheating (headmaster’s decision 01.03.24) that the student must refer to AI tools that have been used.

If the use of AI leads to the fabrication of data, e.g. fabrication of factual information or sources, this is considered cheating.

Reuse of one's own work without disclosing it

Reuse of one's own work without informing about it, which has already been credited, without disclosing it, may be cheating. A typical example is where a student submits the same answer that has previously been given credit in another subject. Double credit should not be given for the same work. It is the unlawful reuse that can be considered cheating, not where reuse is expected in a subject (e.g. that the same assignment is to be submitted again in an improved version, or when the course assumes that the student will reuse parts of a previous work). The reaction to illegal reuse is the cancellation of the exam. If one's own previous work is reused, this must be disclosed by referring to it in the following way: Own work. (year). Title of the assignment. Educational institution.

About communication during home exams

This applies where the exam is an individual, independent piece of work.

For home exams that last up to and including 6 hours, it is not permitted to communicate with others about the exam questions or to distribute drafts of solutions. Such communication is regarded as cheating. It is also considered cheating for both students if one of the students helps the other during the same exam.

For home exams with a longer duration, it is not necessarily wrong to communicate with others about the assignment. Ask your course lecturer what applies to your course.

Exam support material and aids

There are strict rules for the aids and support material that can be used in exams, and you are responsible for getting to know the details of what applies to your course. On the web page for the course and on the front page of the exam question paper, you can find information about which aids and support material are allowed.

You can find info about exam support material here.

Group assignments

If the form of assessment is group assignment, all students are responsible for the submitted assignment. In cases of suspected cheating, the degree of fault must still be assessed individually for each student. This may result in different consequences for the students in the group. A student who is found not guilty of cheating may still have to retake the course if the cheating makes it academically unjustifiable to grade the submitted work.

Consequences of cheating

If you are caught cheating, it can have serious consequences:

• annulment of the relevant exam or test, or annulment of recognition of courses
• exclusion from NTNU for one or two semesters. In particularly serious cases, the student may be excluded for up to two years. You will also lose the right to take exams at other educational institutions that are covered by Act relating to Universities and University Colleges in the same period (applies to all universities and most university colleges)

What happens when a student is excluded

The student:

• cannot register for or take exams at NTNU or other universities and university colleges in Norway covered by the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges
• cannot submit assignments or exercises, receive supervision or take part in practical training or teaching (except lectures that are open to everyone)
• cannot take the re-sit exam for courses where the exam was held during the exclusion period
• loses access to the online learning platform and exam system (Blackboard, Inspera, etc)
• cannot apply for student exchange during the exclusion period
• cannot ask for an explanation of a grade or appeal against a grade in Inspera – one can ask for an explanation or appeal in other ways (read more here)
• will have their access card to NTNU’s buildings blocked

Assignments and exams taken before the student is excluded will still be valid.

The student will automatically regain the right of admission to courses or programmes when the exclusion period ends.

The student’s diploma will not show that they have been caught cheating or that they have been excluded.

How suspicion of cheating is handled

Very thorough investigations are made in cases of alleged cheating. All students who are suspected of cheating will always have the opportunity to make a statement and explain their side of the case.

As long as a student is suspected of cheating, the student will have the right of admission to their courses or programmes as usual. It is only when the Appeals Committee at NTNU has made a decision on exclusion that the student’s admission privileges are blocked.

The student will be notified at each stage of the process, such as when the case is sent to the Appeals Committee, the date when the case will be considered, and whether an appeal has been forwarded to the Joint Appeals Committee (the national appeals body). The student will also be notified about new information in the case, where it is assumed that the student may have an interest in commenting on the information.

Suspicions of cheating in NTNU subjects in joint degree programs (e.g. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters) are treated in the same manner as cheating in other subjects. Only NTNU's Appeals Committee can decide on sanctions in the matter.

Cases where there is suspicion of cheating are sent to:

• Section for quality in education and learning environment (cases at the Trondheim campus)

• Section for education Gjøvik (cases at the Gjøvik campus)

• Section for education Ålesund (cases at the Ålesund campus)

Processing time

It will usually take about 4-6 months from the start of the case arises until the Appeals Committee at NTNU has decided the case.

Legal assistance

The student is entitled to reimbursement of legal fees if court proceedings regarding exclusion are brought. This means that the right to be reimbursed for legal fees starts when the case is sent to the Appeals Committee at NTNU with a proposal for exclusion.

Consulting a lawyer is completely voluntary. If the student wants legal assistance, it is the student who must contact a lawyer.

Frequently asked questions about cheating

What happens if the student is taking part in a group assignment when the student is excluded? Then the student will no longer be able to participate in the group.

Will it be possible to get a grade/assessment on an exam if it was taken before the exclusion, but assessment takes place after the exclusion period has started? If so, who should you contact? Yes, the student will receive a grade. The student can log in to Studentweb to see the grade.

Will compulsory assignments that are submitted before the student was excluded be valid? Compulsory assignments or activities that are submitted before the student was excluded will be valid if they are approved. Whether they will be approved for a later exam in the course depends on whether it is possible to include previously approved compulsory activities in the course. The student must investigate this with the department to which the course belongs.

What happens if the student is excluded in the middle of a semester? The exclusion will then apply for the rest of the semester and possibly the next semester.

Is it possible to ask for exclusion to be postponed until a later date? The student can ask for postponement of the exclusion until the deadline for appeals has expired or until the appeal has finally been decided, but the main rule is that no postponement of exclusion is granted. If the student is granted a postponement of the exclusion until the appeal is finally decided and the appeal does not succeed, the student will be excluded when the appeal has been decided.

How can the student register for courses in the semester after an exclusion when the deadline for registration was during the exclusion period? NTNU can register the student. The student can contact their student adviser or the Examinations Office:

• Trondheim: eksamen@adm.ntnu.no
• Gjøvik: eksamen@gjovik.ntnu.no
• Ålesund: studier@alesund.ntnu.no

Guidelines

For more information, see  the guidelines on dealing with cheating or attempted cheating in exams at NTNU (pdf). (in Norwegian)

The student ombuds

Students who are suspected of cheating on exams are welcome to contact the student ombuds for an informal conversation.

Contact information

If you have questions related to this page, please contact:

• Anne Marie Snekvik or Ragnar Veien Tundal, Trondheim
• Sara Elisabeth Burrell, Gjøvik
• Anniken Gjerde, Ålesund