Standards of Conduct

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The Academic Standards & Discipline policies of NYU Shanghai are summarized here. Unless otherwise noted, students should direct all questions or concerns regarding these policies to their Academic Advisor, who will liaise with the appropriate members of the university administration as needed.

Academic Standards

The NYU Shanghai Academic Standards Committee reviews student records throughout the academic year. All of its actions are based on the grades to date at the end of the term.

Academic Integrity

This policy sets forth core principles and standards with respect to academic integrity for students at NYU Shanghai.

NYU Shanghai is a “community of the mind.” Its students, faculty, and staff all share the goal of pursuing truth through free and open inquiry, and we support one another’s endeavors in this regard. As in any community, membership comes with certain rights and responsibilities. Foremost among these is academic integrity. Cheating on an exam, falsifying data, or having someone else write a paper undermines others who are “doing it on their own”; it makes it difficult or impossible to assess fairly a student’s interest, aptitude, and achievement; and it diminishes the cheater, depriving him or her of an education. Most important, academic dishonesty is a violation of the very principles upon which the academy is founded. For this reason, violations of these principles are treated with the utmost seriousness.

At NYU Shanghai, a commitment to excellence, fairness, honesty, and respect within and outside the classroom is essential to maintaining the integrity of our community. By accepting membership in this community, students take responsibility for demonstrating these values in their own conduct and for recognizing and supporting these values in others. In turn, these values will create a campus climate that encourages the free exchange of ideas, promotes scholarly excellence through active and creative thought, and allows community members to achieve and be recognized for achieving their highest potential.

In pursuing these goals, NYU Shanghai expects and requires its students to adhere to the highest standards of scholarship, research and academic conduct. Essential to the process of teaching and learning is the periodic assessment of students’ academic progress through measures such as papers, examinations, presentations, and other projects. Academic dishonesty compromises the validity of these assessments as well as the relationship of trust within the community. Students who engage in such behavior will be subject to review and the possible imposition of penalties in accordance with the standards, practices, and procedures of NYU and its colleges and schools. Violations may result in failure on a particular assignment, failure in a course, suspension or expulsion from NYU Shanghai, or other penalties.

Faculty are expected to guide students in understanding other people’s ideas, in developing and clarifying their own thinking, and in using and conscientiously acknowledging resources - an increasingly complex endeavor given the current environment of widely available and continually emerging electronic resources. In addition, students come to NYU Shanghai from diverse educational contexts and may have understandings regarding academic expectations that differ from those at NYU Shanghai. NYU values and respects all academic traditions; however, while at NYU Shanghai, students are expected to adhere to the norms and standards of academic integrity espoused by the NYU Shanghai community and will be assessed in accordance with these standards. Students should ask their professors for guidance regarding these standards as well as style guide preferences for citation of sources for assignments in their courses.

Following are examples of behaviors that compromise the academic and intellectual community of NYU Shanghai and that are unacceptable.

  1. Plagiarism: presenting others’ work without adequate acknowledgement of its source, as though it were one’s own. Plagiarism is a form of fraud. We all stand on the shoulders of others, and we must give credit to the creators of the works that we incorporate into products that we call our own. Some examples of plagiarism:
    • A sequence of words incorporated without quotation marks
    • an unacknowledged passage paraphrased from another’s work
    • the use of ideas, sound recordings, computer data or images created by others as though it were one’s own
  2. Cheating: deceiving a faculty member or other individual who assess student performance into believing that one’s mastery of a subject or discipline is greater than it is by a range of dishonest methods, including but not limited to:
    • Bringing or accessing unauthorized materials during an examination (e.g., notes, books, or other information accessed via phones, computers, other technology or any other means)
    • providing assistance to acts of academic misconduct/dishonesty (e.g., sharing copies of exams via phones, computers, other technology or any other means; allowing others to copy answers on an exam)
    • submitting the same or substantially similar work in multiple courses, either in the same semester or in a different semester, without the express approval of all instructors
    • submitting work (papers, homework assignments, computer programs, experimental results, artwork, etc.) that was created by another, substantially or in whole, as one’s own
    • submitting answers on an exam that were obtained from the work of another person or providing answers or assistance to others during an exam when not explicitly permitted by the instructor
    • submitting evaluations of group members’ work for an assigned group project which misrepresent the work that was performed by another group member
    • altering or forging academic documents, including but not limited to admissions materials, academic records, grade reports, add/drop forms, course registration forms, etc.
  3.  Any behavior that violates the academic policies set forth by NYU Shanghai.

NYU Shanghai Honor Code

Adopted from the CAS Honor Code

As a student in NYU Shanghai, you belong to a community of scholars who value free and open inquiry. Honest assessment of ideas and their sources is the foundation of what we do.

NYU Shanghai is a community of mutual trust and respect in which personal prejudice has no part in the critical evaluation of ideas. It is a place where differences of opinion can be subjected to deliberate and reasonable examination without animus.

As scholars, it is therefore as a matter of honor and good repute that we each commit ourselves to assuring the integrity of our academic community and of the educational pursuits we undertake together.

As a student in NYU Shanghai, I pledge that:

  • I will perform honestly all my academic obligations. I will not represent the words, works, or ideas of others as my own; will not cheat; and will not seek to mislead faculty or other academic officers in their evaluation of my course work or in any other academic affairs.
  • I will behave with decorum and civility, and with respectful regard for all members of the University—faculty, staff, and fellow students— our guests, and members of our wider communities.
  • I will abide by NYU Shanghai and by NYU rules of conduct and policies on academic integrity and by the special requirements of any individual course of study or other academic activity.
  • I will endeavor earnestly to uphold the values, standards, and ideals on which our university community depends and call on others to do so.

Procedures and Sanctions

The penalty for academic dishonesty is severe. The following are the procedures followed at NYU Shanghai:

  1. If a student cheats on an examination or in laboratory work or engages in plagiarism, appropriate disciplinary action should be taken. The following actions may be taken:
    1.  The faculty member, with the approval of the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, may reduce the student’s grade or give the student an F in the course.
    2. If after lowering the grade or assigning an “F”, the faculty member or the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs believes a more severe penalty (i.e., probation, suspension, or expulsion) is warranted, they can refer the case to the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs for further action.
  2. In all cases of either (a) or (b), the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs will inform the student of any action in writing and send a copy of this letter to the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. The letter will include the nature of the offense, the penalty, and the right of the student to appeal such penalty. A copy of the letter will be kept in a confidential file. The Associate Provost for Academic Affairs’ office copy will also be kept in a confidential file. (The faculty member and/or the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs will meet with the student and discuss the nature of the offense and the action taken.)
  3. For cases involving a second offense, the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs will determine if a mediated outcome is possible or proceed as follows:
    1. Convene a five-member ad hoc committee of three faculty members, one staff member, and one student to examine the evidence. This ad hoc committee will consider if there are reasonable grounds to believe that an academic integrity violation has occurred and if so, will affirm the penalty. If the committee affirms the penalty, the Associate Provost will send the student by e-mail a penalty letter. The letter will advise the student of his or her right to appeal. The student will have two business days from the letter’s delivery to request an appeal. The penalty will ordinarily be stayed during the pendency of appeal.
    2. If the committee does not affirm the penalty, the report will be kept on file for a one-year period.
  4. The student in all cases has the right to appeal to the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs.

Community Standards

Academic communities exist to facilitate the process of acquiring and exchanging knowledge and understanding, to enhance the personal and intellectual development of its members, and to advance the interests of society. In order to realize its purpose, the University and its members must be free from personal injury or harm; bias or harassment; intimidation or coercion; damage or loss of property; disruption of educational and social activities; unreasonable interference with the exchange of concepts and ideas; and unreasonable interference with the administrative and supporting services offered by the University. Accordingly, all student members of the University community are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that demonstrates mutual respect for the rights and personal/academic well-being of others, preserves the integrity of the social and academic environment, upholds the core values of the institution and supports the mission of the University. The University has an inherent right to address behavior that impedes, obstructs, or threatens the maintenance of order and attainment of the aforementioned goals by violating the standards of conduct set forth in the NYU Shanghai Student Conduct Policies and the Academic Standards set forth in this bulletin as well as other policies that may be established by the respective NYU Schools, Global Sites, and administrative offices of the University. Students are expected to familiarize themselves and comply with all University policies; the NYU Shanghai Student Conduct Policies and Process are available at https://shanghai.nyu.edu/campuslife/community-standards/.