Mustafa v Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education [2013] EWHC 1379 (Admin), [2013] All ER (D) 323 (May)
Queen’s Bench Division, Administrative Court (London), Males J, 23 May 2013
Not all allegations of plagiarism involve academic judgment and so will fall outwith the jurisdiction of the office of the independent adjudicator (OIA). In most cases, however, they will do so and therefore the OIA will be precluded from considering them.
David Lawson & Leon Glenister (instructed by Fisher Meredith LLP) for the claimant. Aileen McColgan (instructed by E J Winter & Son LLP) for the defendant.
The claimant had been studying for a Master’s degree. As part of the course he was required to submit an essay. In June 2008, the claimant was informed that his essay was being reviewed for suspected plagiarism. In July 2008, the claimant was told that he had used extensive quotations without the use of quotation marks. The claimant contended that he had made sufficiently clear that he was quoting from sources by using numbers
