How a Conduct Hearing may run

Following a preliminary enquiry and where there is sufficient evidence to suggest that a student may have breached the College’s conduct policy, the student may be referred to a conduct hearing.

Students referred to a conduct hearing will be notified in writing, no less than 5 business days before the hearing is due to take place.

Who is on the panel

Panels will consist of:

• A senior member of academic or professional services staff as the Student Conduct Chair
• One head of an academic department or a departmental business manager
• Either a member of academic staff or, where misconduct also gives rise to concern as to a student’s fitness to practise in a relevant profession (see the Fitness to Practise Regulation) one person who will normally be registered with the relevant professional regulatory body, and who will not be an employee of the College, but who may be a member of academic staff from another University or relevant institution
• One enrolled student of the College nominated by the President of the Students' Union

Reported students have the right to be accompanied at the Hearing. This may be a fellow student, a friend, parent, guardian or carer, partner or Student Union Adviser or any other person not acting in a legal capacity.

In some exceptional circumstances the College may allow the reported student legal representation in a hearing, but prior written permission must be sought and the College reserves the right to refuse the request if the circumstances are not deemed ‘exceptional’ by the College.

The reported student must notify in writing who will be accompanying them to the hearing as well as any witnesses intending to be called no less than 3 working days before the hearing to conduct@gold.ac.uk.

Other people present at the hearing:

• The reported student
• Student’s support/advisor
• Representative of the College
• Witnesses/evidence on behalf of College
• Witnesses/evidence on behalf of the student

Submission of Evidence

The reported student is required to submit any evidence (including witness statements) no less than three working days prior to the hearing.

How the panel is run

The Chair will have the ability to vary (within reason) the structure of a panel hearing to suit the circumstances. However, typically a panel will run as the following:

1. All papers submitted to the Conduct Hearing panel to be circulated no less that one week prior to the hearing, papers will usually consist of:

• Paper A - Purpose and Procedure
• Paper B - Statement of Misconduct
• Paper C - General Regulations – Student Conduct
• Paper D - Papers authorising disciplinary action
• Paper E - Evidence provided on behalf of the College
• Paper F - Evidence provided by the Student
• Paper G – Stills and description of CCTV (if available), CCTV footage may be viewed at the hearing.

2. Initial private meeting of the Committee

3. The reported student and student’s support/advisor will be invited into the hearing room

4. The representative of the College will present the case for the College, and will then call their witness(s) to give evidence

5. The reported student will be invited to put questions to the representative of the College and the College’s witnesses the panel will also be invited to ask questions

6. When there are no further questions to the witness(s), will be invited to withdraw but remain outside the meeting room

7. The reported student will then be invited to present their case and to call, if they so wish, one or more witness(s)

8. The representative of the College may put questions to the reported student and their witness(s); the Committee may put questions to the reported student and to any witnesses

9. When there are no further questions to the witness(s), if any, they will withdraw but remain outside the meeting room

10. The Committee may decide to recall any of the witness(s) for further questions

11. The representative of the College will be invited to make a closing statement

12. The reported student will be invited to make a closing statement

13. The reported student and the representative of the College will withdraw but will remain outside the meeting room until the Committee is satisfied that it has no further questions; they will then be permitted to leave

14.The Committee will reach its decision and the reported student will be notified of the decision in writing as soon as possible

Notes:

• Members of the Committee may questions of the student or the and representative of the College at any time during the hearing
• The Chair may vary the procedure at any point if they considers it fair to do so

Outcomes

The potential outcomes/penalties of a conduct hearing are as follows:

• No further action to be taken
• Referred for interventional action
• First written warning
• Second written warning
• Exclusion or suspension from the College or from premises owned or occupied by the College for a stated period
• Removal from a relevant programme of study
• Permanent dismissal from the College
• The student is required to make a formal apology to those affected by their misconduct
• Payment of a sum determined by the Director of Finance, not exceeding the cost thereof, for the repair of damage caused by, or the defrayal of other expenses arising from, the offence breach
• The panel may also determine that additional evidence or input from the reported student is required before making a decision

The conduct panel shall also have the power to impose any combinations of the above penalties.