Academic Integrity, Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights

Academic Integrity Policy

Apollos University is committed to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity. All Apollos students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to strive toward academic excellence and to adhere to the rules and expectations of the academic community. All forms of academic dishonesty including, but not limited to, plagiarism, copying, cheating, and/or the submission of work that is not your own are strictly forbidden. Students, faculty, and staff are also only to engage in behavior, both in the classroom and in their personal lives, that is ethical and becoming of a global, academic institution. Violations of the Apollos academic integrity policy will be addressed accordingly.  Consequences are determined on a case by case basis with consideration to the severity of the violation and any previous documented offenses.  Consequences include but are not limited to remediation, academic probation, letter grade reductions for the assignment or class, failure of the assignment or class and/or dismissal from the university.

Statement of Academic Integrity

In order to ensure that Apollos students maintain the aforementioned standards of academic honesty and integrity, all Apollos classrooms require learners to make a statement of academic integrity. At the beginning of each course, students are required to make the following statement of academic integrity in the appropriate forum:

"By posting this statement, I assert that all material that I will submit in this classroom will be my own. I promise not to participate in any form of academic dishonesty including, but not limited to, plagiarism, copying, cheating, and/or the submission of work other than my own. I make this statement of academic integrity with the full understanding of the penalties involved and the actions that may be taken against me including remediation, academic probation, letter grade reductions for the assignment or class, failure of the assignment or class and/or dismissal from the university."

In a similar manner, professors are to be held to the same standards of academic integrity. At the beginning of each course, professors are required to make the following statement of academic integrity in the appropriate forum:

"By posting this statement, I assert that I will uphold and maintain the standards of academic integrity as prescribed by the academic community. In my dealings with learners, I promise to conduct myself in a manner that is fitting my position and that provides an excellent example of academic honesty and integrity to my students. I understand the responsibilities of my position and I make this statement of academic integrity with the full understanding of the penalties involved and the actions that may be taken against me including probation and/or dismissal from the university."

The academic integrity statement must be completed within the first five days of the class or the student will be removed from the class and all funds paid for the class will be refunded to the student.

Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights

Apollos University adheres strictly to the copyright law of the United States which prohibits the making or reproduction of copyrighted material except under certain specified conditions. Acts of copyright infringement include, but are not limited to, misusing copyrighted material in one’s coursework and misusing material for which the institution owns the copyright (i.e., web site materials, course materials, publications, etc.).  The professors are instructed on ways to check for copyright abuses and must report infractions to the provost for disciplinary action up to and including withdrawal from the University for repeated offenses.

Students are expected to respect the intellectual property rights of Apollos materials/processes, other students, peers, faculty, and staff.  Likewise, Apollos is committed to ensuring the original work of a student is protected as intellectual property that is owned by the student that produced the material.  Faculty, staff, and other students are expected to honor the intellectual property rights of each student and will be held accountable if they use a student’s original material without obtaining permission or for not providing the proper reference for the original material. Please review the section on Academic Integrity for more information.

Academic Honesty

Apollos University is both an American and an international university. However, Apollos students, American or international, must abide by American standards of academic and scholastic conduct. Any student found participating in any form of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Provost. Penalties include a warning, academic probation, loss of scholarship or funding, failing grade for assignment, course, and/or term, and expulsion.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a very specific form of Academic Dishonesty and will not be tolerated at Apollos University. Plagiarism is the act of claiming as one’s own work the work of another. Any form of paraphrasing or copying from another source without the use of proper citations is plagiarism and is an academic crime. Apollos students are not to upload any materials into the Discussion Questions or Course Research Projects without the use of proper citation techniques. Professors and classroom facilitators are empowered to fail any student found guilty of plagiarism for either the one assignment, or if the case is severe or repeated, for the entire course and should then report the student to the Provost and the student will be placed on academic probation. Students who persist or who violate the plagiarism policy more than once will be expelled from the university.