Navigating Our Procedures and Systems

Your attention is drawn to QMU’s regulations, policies and codes of conduct. It is your responsibility to ensure you have an understanding of how the regulations, policies, codes of conduct and associated documents apply to your student experience. Within the regulations, policies and codes of conduct you will find important information on what to do if you experience any difficulties that may affect your performance/student journey. The regulations, policies and codes of conduct are intended to provide clarity and be supportive. They have been put in place to ensure that all staff and students know what they should and should not do, what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable within QMU. If you need more specific information or are unsure about what any of these documents mean, please approach any member of staff who will be happy to provide you with further guidance.

The policies, codes of conduct and regulations are set out in full in the 2023-24 Essential Information for Students and published on the University’s Quality website. The Quality website is the definitive source of information.  Policies, codes of conduct and regulations published here supersede any earlier versions. They also take precedence over the content of any Programme Handbooks, which will be accurate at the point of publication but might not always capture the most recent updates. 

The QMU Portal is your go to student-focused online facility which can be accessed both on and off campus. Once you have logged in you can:

• Matriculate; access and amend personal and contact details; access various links.
• View the modules you are enrolled on.
• View repeat/reassessment letters, exam and assessment results and your academic transcript.
• Request a letter of confirmation as a student.
• Choose relevant optional modules (where applicable).
• Find out who your Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) is.
• View your timetable.
• See submission deadlines and when feedback is due.
• Submit an extenuating circumstances application form.

Access the QMU Portal

New and returning students must matriculate online (i.e. formally register on a programme of study) at the start of every academic year using the QMU Portal , which can be accessed via the link at the top of the website.   By matriculating, you are confirming that you agree to the University’s regulations, policies and codes of conduct.  It is very important that you matriculate, and if you do not, you will be unable to access any University resources. You will also need to complete matriculation in order to receive any loan or bursary payments you may be due.  Please note that there may be a delay of up to 5 days between completing matriculation and receiving any relevant loan or bursary payments.

Matriculation and log in can also be accessed here: Online Matriculation and Enrolment Information

Remember you must re-matriculate online at the start of each new academic year.

Undergraduate students who have optional modules should make their selection online using the Online Module Selection facility.

• For returning students with options to select, you will be informed by email when this facility opens – this is normally around the May before the academic year ends.  If you do not pick then, the facility opens again first week of Semester 1.
  
  
• For new students who have options to select, this facility will open at the end of Induction week.

The Online Module Selection facility can be accessed through the QMU Portal. The facility contains guidance and information on module choice and links to the timetable. If you do not have optional modules to choose, this facility will not be available to view.

Your personalised timetable is available through your QMU Portal and provides a live feed to our timetabling system that allows you to keep up-to-date with any changes that happen to your timetable. More information about your timetable

The MyQMU Mobile App MyQMU Mobile app  is a mobile friendly way to view your timetable on the go.

The allocation of students to on campus and online sessions is done automatically via Celcat, the University timetabling system. If you have exceptional circumstances that require you to request a change of a timetabled Session, please refer to the process on the timetable pages  of the website. Student ID cards (smartcards) are used for the following functions:

• Controlled access to the building, and areas within it, that are restricted to certain groups
• Controlled access to the halls of residence on a block-by-block basis
• As an access card for borrowing items from the Learning Resource Centre (LRC)
• Purchasing print credit
• Register your attendance at on campus teaching activity.

Smartcards must be worn visibly at all times on campus as this is your formal identification.  If smartcards are lost, a charge will be made to replace them as detailed on the online matriculation page

The University Academic Calendar is published annually ad provides the following key information: semester and vacation dates, induction, examination periods, graduation, exam board and clearing dates.

Please remember: it is your responsibility to note the assessment periods stated on the academic calendar and to ensure that you will be available during the exam periods specified.

It is your responsibility to ensure your fees are paid, even if the funding is coming from a third party. If eligible, students domiciled in Scotland should apply to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland for payment of fees each year. Other UK students should apply to their Local Education Authority.  Information on tuition fees and other fee related information can be found via the Fees/Registry Information site

If you anticipate any financial difficulty please contact our Finance Office immediately via our University telephone number (0131) 474 0000 or alternatively you may prefer to email our Student Funding Adviser

Please follow this link to access the Student Absence Policy

You are required to register your attendance electronically at all on-campus sessions as per your personalised timetable. This is done by simply swiping your student card against the black card reader outside each of the rooms before entering to attend your seminar, workshop etc. The swipe window to register your attendance is between 15 minutes before the start of class, up to 15 minutes after the start of class e.g., a class starts at 0900, you should swipe in between 0845 and 0915. We monitor your attendance regularly and will contact you if your attendance is below what is expected.

We also monitor your engagement via CANVAS, your virtual learning environment and assessment submission, examination attendance and academic progress throughout the year.

If you have any questions please email the Student Engagement Monitoring Team

QMU’s degrees and other academic awards are given in recognition of a candidate’s individual achievement. Plagiarism, together with other forms of academic dishonesty such as impersonation, falsification of data, misuse of Artificial Intelligence, computer or calculation fraud, examination room cheating and bribery, are considered acts of academic fraud and are an offence against the University Regulations Governing Discipline. 

Plagiarism is defined as follows: the presentation by an individual of another person’s ideas or work (in any medium, published or unpublished) as though they were his or her own.

Perhaps most obviously, plagiarism can mean including another person’s work within your assignment, without the use of quotation marks or acknowledgement of the source of information. The use of another person’s work, by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation without acknowledgement also counts as plagiarism. Less obviously, it can also mean a student presenting the same assessment on a multiple of occasions.

In the following circumstances, academic collusion represents a form of plagiarism: Academic collusion is deemed to be unacceptable where it involves the unauthorised and unattributed collaboration of students or others work resulting in plagiarism, which is against University discipline.

Should it be suspected, then the alleged plagiarism will be dealt with through the University’s processes, and could lead to a student being withdrawn from the University.  

Academic staff, Library Services and Effective Learning Services staff will offer guidance and support to help you develop good academic practices and to conduct your studies with academic integrity. This includes guidance on referencing and citation. 

Please read QMU's guide to referencing and plagiarism.  You should familiarise yourself with this guide to understand why and how to reference well and avoid risking plagiarism/breaches of academic integrity.

For instructions on how to reference different sources in the correct referencing style (Harvard or APA), please use Cite Them Right.

For additional support please refer to the Effective Learning Service web pages.

It is QMU policy to make use of the Turnitin UK plagiarism detection system to help students avoid plagiarism, and to improve their scholarship skills. This service is available to all matriculated students at QMU, and its use is compulsory in some programmes.  Further information on Turnitin is detailed below, under the heading IT and Learning Resources.

You are normally required to submit your work electronically (any alternative arrangements to this will be communicated to you by your Module Co-ordinator). This will normally be submitted via an Assignment Dropbox in the module site on CANVAS@QMU.  Click here for guidance on how to submit your assignments online

In line with QMU regulations, students are reminded that it is their responsibility to submit all work for assessments in accordance with the requirements for their programme.

Any student who submits an assignment late, after the assessment submission date and time, without the prior agreement of the Programme Leader, or without good or agreed cause, will have marks deducted according to the following criteria:

• If submitted as a first attempt, after the deadline but up to and including six days after the deadline. A maximum mark of 40% can be achieved for undergraduate programmes, and a maximum mark of 50% for postgraduate programmes. If submitted as a first attempt, seven days or more, including on the 7th day after the submission deadline, a mark of 0% will be awarded.

The marks and feedback for your assessments are generally provided 20 working days following the submission date. For modules at Levels 3 and 4, your marks and feedback should be available within 15 working days.  However, should feedback be delayed for any reason, you should be informed of a revised deadline by the relevant module coordinator. A message on the module site in Canvas will be used to inform you when the feedback is available.