Disclosure of criminal convictions

Students must declare any serious unspent or pending convictions (in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act) in writing to the Academic Registrar.

These include (but are not limited to) offences relating to:

• Violence, including grievous bodily harm (GBH), aggravated bodily harm (ABH), and other offences under the Offences Against the Person Act.
• Possession of firearms or other dangerous weapons.
• Terrorism-related offences.
• Arson.
• Hate crimes, including offences aggravated by race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
• Sexual offences.
• Sexual or other forms of harassment.
• Stalking.
• Domestic abuse.
• Coercive control.
• Illegal supply of drugs.

If such a disclosure is notified, then the University Disciplinary Officer, Academic Registrar and Associate Head will consider whether any action should be taken in light of the disclosure and in line with this policy.

The following factors will be amongst those considered:

• Seriousness and relevance of the offence.
• Time elapsed since the offence.
• Circumstances of the offence.
• Country of occurrence.
• Decriminalisation status.
• Repeat offending history.
• Impact on vocational opportunities.
• Compatibility with the course's requirements.
• For visa holders, guidance will also be sought from the Visa and Compliance team.

Failure to disclose a conviction may result in disciplinary action which could then result in expulsion (enforced withdrawal).

Where the University is notified of a criminal conviction held by a student and it has not been disclosed by the student, the student will be given an opportunity to both respond to the report of misconduct by committing a criminal offence, and behaviour which breaches University policies (due to failure to disclose). This will normally be through the hearing procedure.