Attempted bribery, cheating in tests and exams by students, and multiple accounts of plagiarism and identical work being passed in as assignments, were among the 52 incidents of dishonest practice dealt with by the University of Otago, last year.
In the worst cases of dishonest practice, three students were referred to vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne last year.
A PhD candidate "had their candidature terminated" after they were found to have committed "severe" plagiarism.
A fifth-year commerce student, found to have "repeatedly plagiarised" in 2010 and 2011 was awarded zero marks for all of his commerce papers last year.
And the enrolment of a student who fraudulently altered enrolment papers for first-year health science papers was cancelled.
The university has released a disciplinary report that details the incidents investigated for breaches of the tertiary institution's dishonest practices procedures, which were amended last August.
While the number of students disciplined for dishonest practice was not given, the pro-vice-chancellors of the university's four academic divisions provided a summary of each incident they investigated.
Students taking commerce papers (20) and humanities courses (20) accounted for the majority of the overall total of those investigated for dishonest behaviour.
Health sciences students were dealt with on five occasions, while eight incidents involved students taking science papers.
Accounting and finance students had the dubious distinction of tallying the most dishonest practice breaches (8), followed by their partners in commerce studying marketing papers (7).
Students caught cheating in tests and exams by taking in unauthorised materials, notes, and, in one instance, an "unsanctioned device", accounted for the majority of cases of dishonest academic practice, while identical assignments being submitted was also a common endeavour.
History and art history students were found to have committed the most incidents of plagiarism (6) in the humanities division, although theology and religion students (5) were responsible for a pair of repeat incidents of dishonest behaviour.
In other cases, a mathematics and statistics student was reprimanded for offering to "buy a pass" from a lecturer, while a health sciences postgraduate student was found to have plagiarised a large portion of their masters work and was "awarded" a fail for their thesis, Prof Peter Crampton said in his report.
Disciplinary penalties for students found to have committed incidents of dishonest practice ranged from being given zero marks for their test, exam or assignment, to being ordered to enrol in an ethics course, and being barred from undertaking further study in the subject.
Dishonourable conduct
• Eight incidents by accounting and finance students investigated - included cheating in tests and an exam, and three pairs of identical assignments submitted.
• Five incidents of dishonest practice by theology and religion students, which included repeat offences.
• One tourism student ordered to enrol in an ethics course, after submitting work that was not their own.
• One mathematics and statistics student reprimanded for offering to "buy a pass" from a lecturer.
