You are required to disclose any alleged or proven criminal investigations, activities, cautions or convictions, whether you are an applicant to or current student at the University.
Making a declaration will not necessarily compromise your place at the University. However a risk assessment is necessary to determine what support we can offer you and how we can mitigate any risk to the University and its community.
Disclosing a criminal investigation, activity or conviction
Whether you are an applicant or a current student, your disclosure must be made in writing to the Student Casework Team.
When we receive your disclosure we will ask you to provide us with more details on the investigation, activity or conviction. Once we have all the available information, we may hold a risk assessment panel.
While the risk assessment process is the same, the outcomes may differ depending on whether you are:
an applicant or a current student
applying for or studying on a regulated programme.
Risk assessments
This is required if you declare a criminal conviction or that you are subject to an ongoing criminal investigation.
A risk assessment panel meets to determine whether your admission or continued attendance at the University poses any risks for the University or our wider community. The panel also considers whether the University can manage, mitigate or negate any associated potential risks.
If you are an applicant, you will normally be invited to a risk assessment panel. This is because you are still in the process of joining the University and we need to check any concerns before your officially register.
If you are a current student, you don’t need to attend the panel meeting because you are already part of the University.
Outcomes
The possible outcomes of a risk assessment are:
Your application will be rejected and you will not be admitted to the University
You may be admitted to the University, or permitted to continue your studies, but with specific conditions. For example, you may not be permitted to reside on campus
Your case may be referred to another University process such as:
A DBS panel (whether you are an applicant or current student)
Fitness to Practise procedure (for current students on a regulated programme)
Non-Academic Misconduct procedures (for current students on any programme).
Some professionally-regulated programmes require a DBS certificate as a condition of admission. If you are applying to a regulated programme, you must attend a DBS panel who will consider the following:
whether you can demonstrate the personal qualities required to meet the relevant professional standards
the nature of your conviction or ongoing criminal investigation
the risks involved to other members of the community
any risk to the University’s reputation
any programme-specific information
the relevant professional regulations and the impact your conviction may have on future registration or potential employment.
After considering these points, the panel will decide whether to admit you to the University or withdraw your application.
Current students studying on a regulated programme
If you disclose a criminal conviction or ongoing criminal investigation while studying on a regulated programme, the following process applies:
we will ask you for more information about the criminal conviction or investigation
we will conduct a risk assessment to determine any risks to the University and wider community
