Introduction

Hospitality Academy takes pride in making available to students all over the world quality online education in the Hospitality area. Through our courses, we offer globally recognized certifications covering an array of qualities and skills that differentiate our students from every professional in the industry and enable them to accomplish their career goals.

Hospitality Academy is committed to high levels of quality assurance and policies that are open, transparent, and free from bias. We have developed policies and procedures with the purpose of preventing and dealing with malpractice and maladministration. These policies and procedures are reviewed on a yearly basis or, if deemed necessary, in a more frequent manner.

Every individual employed or considered for employment, and student is expected to display ethical conduct and must agree to respect Hospitality Academy ́s Code of Conduct always. This information is shared upon receiving the candidature, and every time a change in the policies and procedures takes place.

Definitions

For the purpose of this policy and procedure, the term malpractice is defined as any deliberate activity, neglect default, or other practice that comprises the integrity of the assessment process, and/or the validity of certificates issued by Hospitality Academy. Malpractice may include a range of issues from the failure to maintain appropriate records or. systems to the deliberate falsification of records to claim certificates; plagiarism of any nature by students, and introduction of unauthorized material into an examination room.

Any allegation of malpractice pertaining to the CTH qualifications (including staff, center, or students malpractice) will be reported to CTH.
Hospitality Academy treats all cases of suspected malpractice very seriously and will report all suspected incidents to CTH using the forms in the CTH Malpractice Policy.

Examples of malpractice

Examples of student malpractice

• Copying from another student (including the use of ICT to aid the copying).
• Allowing their own work to be copied by another student.
• The deliberate destruction of another’s work.
• Disruptive behaviour in the examination room or during an assessment session
• During an examination exchanging, obtaining, receiving, or passing on information which could be examination related (or the attempt to).
• Making a false declaration of authenticity in relation to the authorship of an assignment.
• Use evidence from other students or sources in culinary qualification portfolios (e.g. picture of dishes from internet, time plan, portfolio evidence from books…)

Examples of staff malpractice

• Allowing evidence to be included for assessment which is known by a staff member not to be the student’s own work
• Assisting students in the production of assignments, or evidence of achievement, beyond that permitted by the regulations.
• Assisting or prompting students with the production of answers;
• Permitting students in an examination access to prohibited materials, this may include, but is not limited to, dictionaries, calculators (unless as allowed in a finance
  examination), phones and other electronic devices.
• Making a false declaration of authenticity in relation to the authorship of an assignment.
• Inventing or changing marks for assignments, where there is no actual evidence of the
  students’ achievement to justify the marks being given.
• Failure to declare a conflict of interest that may influence the assessment process.

Examples of Centre malpractice or maladministration

• Inadequate Centre Procedures for the induction of staff or any contracted person involved in the delivery of qualifications.
• Failure to provide students and staff, including contractors, with the knowledge of their responsibilities through policies and procedures that include the possible consequences of non-compliance, how malpractice can occur and be prevented.
• Failure to retain accurate student assessment decisions for the specified time-scale
• Failure to review systems, policies and procedures to ensure they remain fit for purpose
• Constant refusal to participate in Skype calls and constant postponement of CTH staff visits.
• Failure to respond to reasonable requests from CTH in the timescales specified
• Denial of access to resources (premises, examinations, records, information, students and staff by any authorised CTH representative and/or educational regulators)
• Failure to carry out delivery and or assessment according to CTH’s procedures
• Inaccurate recording of student assessment decisions.
• Failure to abide by the terms of the CTH licence agreement, reapproval declaration or repeated failure to adhere to the requirements stated in qualification handbooks and the Centre manual.

Implementing the Policy

Hospitality Academy will communicate the policy to staff and students through:

• Student induction
• Staff induction
• Ensuring staff are familiar with both the Centre and CTH policies including Malpractice, Conflict of Interest and Sanctions.
• Regular training for staff in assessment, internal verification and invigilation
• Reinforced prior to an assessment window
• In the event of any update or modification being made to the policy and/or regulations

When a case of suspected or actual malpractice is identified, Hospitality Academy will:

Hospitality Academy will report cases of suspected or alleged malpractice to CTH using the documentation provided within the CTH Malpractice Policy. CTH will review the contents of the information provided by the Centre and decide whether sanctions should apply and/or whether the issue is to be investigated by the Head of Centre or CTH. CTH will provide guidance for centers asked to carry out such investigations.

All incidents of malpractice, irrespective of the nature of the incident, must be reported to the Director of Quality and Operations of Hospitality Academy, or if the indecent is involving this individual, to the Centre Principal. Incidents may be reported by a student, or staff member, an invigilator, or any other person present at the time the alleged malpractice took place. Anonymous reports of malpractice will be acted upon only if there is supporting evidence, or if the nature of the report warrants it.

1. A malpractice allegation is received by the Director of Quality and Operations and escalated to CTH.
2. The Director of Quality and Operations will seek to establish the full facts and circumstances of the alleged malpractice and, where appropriate, the candidate’s conduct in other assessments before deciding to initiate an investigation.
3. A report from the candidate may be requested, but an investigation will only be initiated if reasonable suspicion of malpractice exists. Where possible, the confidentiality of the ‘whistleblower’ will be respected.
4. Candidates or centre staff accused of malpractice will be informed in writing at the earliest opportunity of the nature of the alleged malpractice, and of the possible consequences should malpractice be found. They will be invited to provide (within 30 days of receiving notification of the allegation) a written statement to explain the incident from their perspective.
5. Hospitality Academy will ensure that all actions taken as part of the investigation are fully documented.
6. If deemed necessary, Hospitality Academy will carry out am investigation to determine.

• Whether the regulations have been adhered to
• Where the culpability lies for the breach in regulations
• Appropriate measures to be taken to protect the integrity of the award and to prevent future breaches as well as mitigate against any adverse effect
• The nature of any sanction/penalty to be applied.

       7. Sanctions will be based only on the evidence presented and must be justifiable, reasonable in scale, and consistent with previous decisions in similar circumstances.
       8. Candidates will be notified of all decisions in writing to their email address within 10 working days of the decision.
       9. A report covering all stages of the above process will be kept on file.
      10. All parties will be given the opportunity to seek a review of the decision should a judgment be made against them.

Actions in cases of Hospitality Academy staff malpractice (sanctions)

Following a decision on malpractice, Hospitality Academy may impose penalties on the individuals found guilty of breaking the regulations. By doing this, Hospitality Academy aims to maintain the integrity of the center, collaborators, and CTH, create a remedy to prevent the
event to be repeated or further incidences taking place.

Sanctions applied against individuals found guilty of malpractice may include:

• Issue of a warning
• Suspension
• Disallowing the future involvement of a member of staff in CTH qualifications or assessments
• Contract termination
• Notification to regulator or police
• Obligation to undertake expenses derived from incidence

Actions in cases of student malpractice

Following a decision on malpractice, Hospitality Academy may impose penalties on the individuals found guilty of breaking the regulations. By doing this, Hospitality Academy aims to maintain the integrity of the center, collaborators, and CTH, create a remedy to prevent the event to be repeated or further incidences taking place.

Sanctions applied against individuals found guilty of malpractice may include:

• No marks awarded for assignment
• Results for all the candidate’s outstanding assessments withheld
• Suspension from continuing studies for 1 calendar year
• Notification to employer, regulator or police
• No marks for the whole cohort’s papers

Review and Appeal procedure

Candidates will have the right to appeal against Hospitality Academy ́s actions resulting from cases of malpractice by following the below-outlined procedure:

1. Candidates may request a review of the decision made following the above process:
   The review is conducted by a panel consisting of representative(s) of Hospitality Academy management team, who were not involved in the original decision process and have no personal interest in the decisions under consideration. The panel will consider the report made at the initial stage, as well as any new information or evidence subsequently provided by other relevant parties. Following a review, the initial decision may be upheld or overturned, or upheld but with a change to the penalties originally imposed.
2. If the candidate does not agree with the outcome of the review, he/she may have the right to appeal, which would involve an independent review of the case. The appeal do not re-investigate the circumstances of the original review. An appeal will only be considered if the appellant can show that the Hospitality Academy did  not apply procedures consistently during the original investigation, or that procedures were not followed properly and fairly. An appeal will only consider whether the Hospitality Academy applied its procedures consistently, properly and fairly during the original investigation and the review. The original incident will not be re-investigated at the appeal stage. A fee of 100 EUR will be required to commence the process of an appeal, which would be refunded if the appeal were successful. Appeals are heard by a panel chaired by Centre Principal with at least one independent member, who is not an employee of Hospitality Academy. The appeal panel was not involved with the assessment or the administration of assessments and have no personal interest in the decisions under consideration. The appeal panel may uphold the original decision or overturn it claiming that procedures were not properly followed. The appeal panel will not review the original investigation. Hospitality Academy ́s Director of Quality and Operations is responsible for ensuring that all parties affected by decisions on malpractice or maladministration are informed of the outcome of the above processes.

Hospitality Academy has the right to appeal against sanctions imposed by CTH.

Other related policies and procedures

Internal:

1. Staff contracts
2. Student learning agreement
3. Privacy and data protection policy

External:

1. CTH Malpractice Policy
2. CTH Sanctions Policy
   
   Relevant laws and regulations the candidate might be subject to depending on the location of studies/training.