Academic Conduct Officer

Weekly

Working Hours:

7.4 - 18.5

Contract Type:
Fixed Term Contract

Fixed Term

Contract:

End Date: 31 July 2027

Welsh Language:
Not Applicable

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part‑time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to You Tube by clicking this link).

The ACO:

• Upholds the academic integrity of the OU’s qualifications to the benefit of all students, by ensuring students do not benefit, gaining marks or credit and ultimately to graduate, based on work that is not their own.
• Educates students referred to them by clearly showing and explaining how they have demonstrated academic misconduct and breached OU policy, providing them with resources to improve their academic practice to prevent a future referral.

ACOs are often experienced central or regional academics, with experience of module production and/or presentation at the OU or, if new to the university, with previous experience of academic integrity work in a Higher Education Institution. However, we welcome applications from candidates with experience of conducting investigations of a disciplinary nature, preferably in a regulated context.

Under Section 4.7 of the Code of Practice for Student Discipline, an Academic Conduct Officer (ACO) is the University’s disciplinary authority able to provide a ruling in cases where a student is deemed to have breached the Academic Conduct Policy. Academic Conduct Officers are the appropriate authority to apply an Academic Penalty (3.4 a. b. c.) or if appropriate, a warning (3.2) or a formal caution (3.3).

Several roles are available on a part‑time basis 0.2 – 0.5 FTE (full‑time equivalent). At the Open University, 1.0 FTE is 37 hours per week. These posts require a regular weekly commitment (typically 1–2 set days per week, depending on FTE) and are not suited to ad hoc or irregular working patterns.

ACOs are responsible for a wide range of responsibilities relating to academic conduct within the Open University.

Each appointed ACO will have the following general responsibilities:

• Promote and uphold the OU’s Academic Conduct Policy.
• Promote good academic practice across their Faculty.
• Maintenance of a sound knowledge of university policy and procedures, both within the specified area of work and more generally in relation to academic conduct services.
• Contribute to University projects and initiatives as workload allows and as requested by the FBL (Faculty of Business and Law) Lead for Academic Integrity.

Amongst the specific responsibilities of this role are to:

• Act as a Disciplinary Authority as set out in the Code of Practice for Student Discipline.
• Contribute to the work of the FBL Lead for Academic Integrity and other appropriate Faculty staff to promote the Academic Conduct Policy and good academic practice, and the use of software to detect plagiarism.
• Attend training sessions and engage with the mentoring schedule; take proactive steps to understand the principles for a fair investigation and OU policies.
• Review and investigate cases referred where students are suspected of misconduct, following procedures and guidance and decide outcomes based on the Academic Misconduct Tariff.
• Conduct academic conduct investigations to specified performance standards and the service level agreement (SLA), ensuring investigations and outcomes are recorded appropriately and accurately in VOICE (our student database system).
• Liaise with Module Team Chairs, Module results Panel Chairs, other ACOs, Cluster Managers and Staff Tutors as appropriate when investigating cases, including participating in Additional Assessments.
• As this is an official role of the University, attend the regular meetings of the University ACO Group to share and improve good University practice, reporting any issues encountered when investigating cases and to ensure benchmarking against fellow ACO decisions can be achieved.
• Provide occasional support for training and staff…