Teaching & Learning
- The university also states that students remain responsible for the accuracy and integrity of submitted work
- Use of generative AI in assessed coursework is only permitted where the assessment brief explicitly allows it
- Where it is not permitted, using AI to generate or substantially contribute to submitted work is treated as academic misconduct
There are two categories under which Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used in student work: 1. Permissible use. The use of AI is clearly articulated as acceptable in the assessment brief. 2. Academic misconduct. The use of AI has not been clearly articulated as acceptable in the assessment brief, and where a student uses AI generated text, images, translations, or code in a way that would constitute an academic offence under the grounds outlined in this policy.
For all assessments, students are required to confirm that all work submitted is their own, and in doing so students are confirming that they understand the requirements of the assessment.
The work submitted by a student, in any form of assessment, can be found liable for academic misconduct if it demonstrates one or more of the following:
• Represents the work of another person or source as the student’s own work.
• Contains passages of unattributed work, whether verbatim or paraphrased, from another source.
• Contains an unacknowledged contribution from another person.
• Contains an unacknowledged contribution from Artificial Intelligence (AI) software where use of AI in the production of the work was not permitted.
Regardless of whether AI generated content forms all or part of a submission, the student remains responsible and accountable for all aspects of work submitted, including content generated by AI.
- For assessed work generally, including formal assessments, AI use is allowed only when the assessment brief clearly permits it
- If AI use is not clearly authorized in the assessment brief, any unacknowledged AI contribution can be treated as academic misconduct
There are two categories under which Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used in student work: 1. Permissible use. The use of AI is clearly articulated as acceptable in the assessment brief. 2. Academic misconduct. The use of AI has not been clearly articulated as acceptable in the assessment brief, and where a student uses AI generated text, images, translations, or code in a way that would constitute an academic offence under the grounds outlined in this policy.
The work submitted by a student, in any form of assessment, can be found liable for academic misconduct if it demonstrates one or more of the following:
• Represents the work of another person or source as the student’s own work.
• Contains passages of unattributed work, whether verbatim or paraphrased, from another source.
• Contains an unacknowledged contribution from another person.
• Contains an unacknowledged contribution from Artificial Intelligence (AI) software where use of AI in the production of the work was not permitted.
- Students are warned not to rely on the tool alone and are advised that output may be inaccurate, biased, or incomplete
- The university provides an approved AI platform for educational support and presents it as a tool students may use for learning-related activities such as summarising, brainstorming, study support, and feedback
Claude for Education is a version of Claude, developed by Anthropic, that has been specifically designed for use in higher education.
Claude can support your studies in a variety of ways and may help you with tasks such as:
• Summarising and understanding complex texts.
• Brainstorming essay structures or project ideas.
• Revising your writing and getting feedback.
• Exploring difficult concepts by asking follow-up questions.
• Generating practice quiz questions or revision plans.
• Supporting coding and data analysis tasks.
Students should not rely solely on AI tools for completing work. AI-generated responses may contain factual errors, be misleading, or reflect harmful biases.
Claude is designed to be helpful, but like all AI systems, it can make mistakes. You should:
• Fact-check important information.
• Use your own judgment and critical thinking.
• Review any output carefully before using or submitting it.
Learning and Using AI Responsibly
Northumbria encourages all students to explore AI tools critically and ethically. You should:
• Only use AI tools where permitted by your module or tutor.
• Be transparent about your use where required.
• Avoid sharing personal, confidential, or sensitive information.
• Use Claude to support your learning—not replace your own thinking or effort.
- AI may be used for code generation or programming support only when that use is permitted by the assessment brief or module/tutor
- The misconduct policy explicitly includes AI-generated code within the forms of AI use that can become academic misconduct if not authorized
There are two categories under which Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used in student work: 1. Permissible use. The use of AI is clearly articulated as acceptable in the assessment brief. 2. Academic misconduct. The use of AI has not been clearly articulated as acceptable in the assessment brief, and where a student uses AI generated text, images, translations, or code in a way that would constitute an academic offence under the grounds outlined in this policy.
Claude can support your studies in a variety of ways and may help you with tasks such as:
• Summarising and understanding complex texts.
• Brainstorming essay structures or project ideas.
• Revising your writing and getting feedback.
• Exploring difficult concepts by asking follow-up questions.
• Generating practice quiz questions or revision plans.
• Supporting coding and data analysis tasks.
Learning and Using AI Responsibly
Northumbria encourages all students to explore AI tools critically and ethically. You should:
• Only use AI tools where permitted by your module or tutor.
Research
- General research integrity expectations apply, including responsibility for honest reporting and proper acknowledgment of contributions
- The university requires researchers to ensure accuracy in publication and authorship, but the provided sources do not define a specific policy on using AI to draft, edit, or format research manuscripts
Researchers should ensure that research findings are communicated in a way that is honest, accurate and comprehensive.
Authorship should be based on substantial contribution to the design, execution or interpretation of the reported study.
Researchers should ensure that research findings are disseminated responsibly and with appropriate acknowledgement of all contributors.
- They do require researchers to consider data protection, confidentiality, and ethical risks when conducting research
- The provided sources do not set a specific AI policy for research data collection, analysis, statistical processing, synthetic data generation, or interpretation of results
All staff and students carrying out research under the auspices of Northumbria University are required to consider ethical implications and seek ethical approval where appropriate.
This includes the protection of participants, researchers, and the wider community, and consideration of issues such as informed consent, confidentiality, data protection, and potential harm.
- However, the provided sources do not define AI-specific rules for grant proposals, ethics applications, or research integrity declarations
- The university has general research ethics and integrity requirements, including mandatory consideration of ethical implications and adherence to honest, accurate, and responsible research conduct
All staff and students carrying out research under the auspices of Northumbria University are required to consider ethical implications and seek ethical approval where appropriate.
Researchers should ensure that research findings are communicated in a way that is honest, accurate and comprehensive.
Researchers should be aware of and comply with all legal and ethical requirements and other guidelines that apply to their research.
Academic Integrity
- The student guidance also states that transparency about AI use is required where required by the module or tutor
- Students must acknowledge AI contributions when AI use is not otherwise disallowed, and unacknowledged AI contribution is grounds for academic misconduct where AI use was not permitted
The work submitted by a student, in any form of assessment, can be found liable for academic misconduct if it demonstrates one or more of the following:
• Represents the work of another person or source as the student’s own work.
• Contains passages of unattributed work, whether verbatim or paraphrased, from another source.
• Contains an unacknowledged contribution from another person.
• Contains an unacknowledged contribution from Artificial Intelligence (AI) software where use of AI in the production of the work was not permitted.
Learning and Using AI Responsibly
Northumbria encourages all students to explore AI tools critically and ethically. You should:
• Only use AI tools where permitted by your module or tutor.
• Be transparent about your use where required.
- The university uses Turnitin’s AI writing detection only as an indicator and not as proof of misconduct
- Cases are handled through the academic misconduct process, and students may be invited to discuss their work when concerns arise
- Staff must not use the detection score alone to accuse students and are instructed to rely on academic judgment and broader evidence
Turnitin’s AI writing detection indicator is designed to be one of many pieces of information to support an educator in determining if a student has submitted AI-generated writing inappropriately.
The indicator does not detect plagiarism or cheating and should not be used as the sole basis for an accusation of academic misconduct.
Northumbria University therefore views a positive AI writing detection score as an indicator that AI may have been used in the production of the work, not proof that a student has used AI generated text.
If concerns arise, the marker should review the paper in full and make an academic judgment based on the assignment type, student context and other available evidence.
Where concerns remain, a Viva Voce or investigative interview may be conducted to allow the student to explain the development of their work.
Any formal concerns about misconduct must be handled in line with the University’s Academic Misconduct Policy.
Institutional & Administrative
- They do show that the university has launched an AI platform for staff and students and supports experimentation with AI in education
- The provided sources do not define a specific policy on faculty or staff use of AI for grading, feedback, lesson planning, recommendation letters, or administrative communications
Northumbria University has launched a new secure generative AI platform for staff and students.
The platform, called Claude for Education, will be available across the University and is designed to support teaching, learning, research and professional services.
Northumbria is also exploring the use of AI in learning and education through interdisciplinary research and innovation.
- Northumbria has an approved institutional AI platform, Claude for Education, for staff and students
- Students are instructed not to share personal, confidential, or sensitive information in AI tools, and the platform is described as secure and university-provided
Northumbria University has launched a new secure generative AI platform for staff and students.
The platform, called Claude for Education, will be available across the University and is designed to support teaching, learning, research and professional services.
Avoid sharing personal, confidential, or sensitive information.
Northumbria encourages all students to explore AI tools critically and ethically. You should:
• Only use AI tools where permitted by your module or tutor.
• Be transparent about your use where required.
• Avoid sharing personal, confidential, or sensitive information.
- The university has an institutional AI strategy that includes deploying a university-wide AI platform and establishing research infrastructure focused on responsible AI
- It has also launched a Centre for Responsible AI and frames AI adoption around secure, responsible, and interdisciplinary use in teaching, learning, research, and professional services
Northumbria University has launched a new secure generative AI platform for staff and students.
The platform, called Claude for Education, will be available across the University and is designed to support teaching, learning, research and professional services.
Northumbria University has launched a new Centre for Responsible AI.
The Centre will bring together researchers from across the University to address the ethical, social and technical challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
The Northumbria Centre for Responsible AI brings together interdisciplinary expertise to shape the development and deployment of AI in ways that are ethical, inclusive and socially beneficial.
DocuMark: Responsible AI Use for Academic Integrity
Knowing your institution's AI policy is step one. DocuMark helps enforce it fairly by empowering universities to manage AI-generated content, prevent cheating, and support student writing through responsible AI use.
Common Questions About Northumbria University's AI Policies
Northumbria University has defined AI policies in 12 of 12 categories, with an overall coverage score of 100%.
Students must acknowledge AI contributions when AI use is not otherwise disallowed, and unacknowledged AI contribution is grounds for academic misconduct where AI use was not permitted. The student guidance also states that transparency about AI use is required where required by the module or tutor.
The university uses Turnitin’s AI writing detection only as an indicator and not as proof of misconduct. Staff must not use the detection score alone to accuse students and are instructed to rely on academic judgment and broader evidence. Cases are handled through the academic misconduct process, and students may be invited to discuss their work when concerns arise.
Northumbria has an approved institutional AI platform, Claude for Education, for staff and students. Students are instructed not to share personal, confidential, or sensitive information in AI tools, and the platform is described as secure and university-provided.