Third-year Otago University students who sat the medical exam where alleged cheating took place will get to keep their marks.
The Otago Medical School on Tuesday confirmed they were investigating the allegations after they found some students did communicate to others about the contents of the end-of-year Objective Structure Clinical Examination (OSCE) as they waited for their chance to sit it.
Initial evidence suggests some students took devices into holding rooms before or after they had completed their exam and used them to receive information or forewarn other students, Dunedin School of Medicine Dean Professor Barry Taylor said in a statement.
"While any allegations about misconduct are not yet proven, the Medical School considered that the evidence received was sufficiently credible and serious to warrant further consideration of how examination results were to be treated," Professor Taylor says.
The alleged cheating occurred despite increased security arrangements which were substantially increased this year, compared to others.
Staff had considered making students re-sit the exam.
However, due to the likelihood that only a few students broke exam conduct the marks will stand, subject to any penalties for individuals involved in the exam breach.
Students are yet to know their results.
"The decision to accept the results of the OSCE does not reduce the seriousness of the alleged misconduct that has been identified. The premeditated sending of information and receipt of information about examination content is considered a serious act of academic misconduct," Professor Taylor says.
"Should specific cases of misconduct be proven, there will be serious consequences for those involved."
The Medical School will be putting additional measures in place during the remaining three years of the student's course to ensure all students develop the necessary clinical skills.
In light of the alleged cheating, the Medical School is also considering system changes to academic procedures.
Students have been updated on the investigation which is ongoing.
Newshub.
