The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

PolyU takes an open and forward-looking stance on the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools (such as ChatGPT) as a positive and creative force in education, and the incorporation of such use in innovative learning, teaching, and assessment practices. While embracing the use of new technology in education, PolyU upholds the principle that students must adhere to high standards of academic integrity in all forms of assessments.

The work that you submit for assessment must be YOUR OWN WORK. This means that the work must be original in the sense that it is your intellectual creation and its overall content is representative of your own expression of your own ideas, not a copy/version of other people's work or AI-generated material.

The work that you submit for assessment must be YOUR OWN WORK. This means that the work must be original in the sense that it is your intellectual creation and its overall content is representative of your own expression of your own ideas, not a copy/version of other people’s work or AI-generated material. Asking GenAI to do the assignment for you is like asking someone else to do the assignment for you, and copying AI-generated content is like copying other people’s work. Both are cheating and are penalisable.

For assessments where any use of AI-generated materials is not permitted, students who are found to have submitted AI-generated materials as their own work or part of their work constitute an act of academic dishonesty. Students who are found committing academic dishonesty will face disciplinary actions.

Effective from 2022/23 Summer Term; last updated in May 2026

PolyU upholds the principle that students must adhere to high standards of academic integrity in all forms of assessments. The Student Code of Conduct and the policy on academic integrity apply to the use of GenAI in student work.

You must acknowledge where GenAI tools have been used in an assessment according to accepted academic conventions.

Use GenAI for brainstorming

Do NOT rely solely on AI-generated content as the source of information

Do NOT ask GenAI software to write your essays

The Pao-Yue-Kong Library offers regular workshops on using GenAI for learning and maintains a set of guidance notes on GenAI and plagiarism.

Beware that AI-generated contents can sometimes contain material that breaches copyright, and you may infringe the copyright law unintentionally by incorporating such material in your work.

Under The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Ordinance, the President is vested with full executive authority for, amongst other things, the discipline of students of the University. The Student Discipline Committee (“SDC”) is a committee of the University with the delegated authority to adjudicate and make decisions on behalf of the President on cases concerning the conduct and discipline of students.

June 2025

The Student Discipline Committee may order to impose upon any student (including graduand) found guilty of an offence, any of the following penalties which may be entered into the transcript of the student’s academic record: (a) reprimand; (b) community services; (e) disqualification of results; (f) lowering the award classification by one level upon graduation; (g) suspension from the University for a specified period of time; (h) deferment of graduation or withholding the issuance of award parchment (for graduand); (i) termination of studies; and (j) any other penalties as considered appropriate. Penalty (g), (h) or (i) may be imposed only with the approval of the President or his designate.

The standard of proof in determining whether a misconduct complaint is proved should be based on balance of probabilities.

The student shall be allowed not less than 7 days to submit the written representation.

The notice shall be issued to the student not less than 7 days before the scheduled date of meeting. The student is allowed to ask a staff member or student of PolyU to accompany him/her when attending the meetings of the SDC. The person accompanying the student will be an observer at the meeting of the SDC and will not take part in the discussion.

In the case of sexual harassment, the complainant and the student implicated in the complaint in respect of the allegation may invite an accompanying person to attend the meeting, who may or may not be a staff member or student of PolyU. These accompanying persons may answer questions on their behalf, or otherwise give them support. However, in any event, all parties being interviewed by the Committee will neither be legally represented at the meeting nor be assisted by someone who is a practising lawyer.

If a student disagrees with a decision made or penalty imposed by the academic department or non-academic unit as described in item 7.1.2, the student may appeal in writing to SDC within seven working days from the date of receiving the decision letter.

A student’s disagreement with the decision is not in itself an adequate ground for an appeal. The Chairman of SDC shall determine whether there are valid reasons for reconsidering the decision or penalty imposed by the academic department or non-academic unit. However, SDC will not review appeal cases which have already been finalised by the Hall Administration, as the decision of the Hall Discipline Committee for appeal case is final.

The decision of SDC is final except that if the penalty is an order of suspension of studies, deferment of graduation, withholding the issuance of award parchment or termination of studies, the endorsement of the President or his delegate is required.

Service of a document on the student shall be effected by: (a) delivering it to the student personally and deemed to be received upon actual delivery; or (b) sending email to the student’s email account allocated by the University and deemed to be received on the day following the dispatch of the email;

sending by ordinary and registered post to the student at his/her correspondence address provided to the University and deemed to be received on the 7th day after postage or following confirmation of delivery by the post office (whichever is earlier)

In the event that the student is (to the actual knowledge of the University) arrested, detained or imprisoned by a law enforcement authority at the relevant time

The student shall be informed in writing of the decision of the SDC.

Students who are found guilty of the alleged offences (academic or non-academic) will normally be put on “disciplinary probation”. The disciplinary probation will normally be one year unless otherwise decided by the Student Discipline Committee.

While each party should take all reasonable measures to comply with the time limit set out in these Procedures, a failure on the part of the SDC or the University to comply with any such time limit

All information collected or received by the SDC, as well as the information presented and discussed in the course of the deliberations of the matter, shall be kept in strict confidence and shall not be disclosed to any third party not involved in the process.

Effective from April 2023; last updated in May 2026

The usage of GenAI as a normal part of learning, teaching, and assessment is encouraged. While embracing the use of new technology in education, PolyU upholds the principle that GenAI should be used as a tool for teaching and learning, not their replacement, and that both teachers and students should be accountable for their own work.

For an assessment that requires the use of particular GenAI tools, the teacher should ensure that students have access to the necessary tools prior to the assessment.

When there are specific restrictions on the assistive/generative use of AI tools, the teacher can also request students to declare their specific use of AI tools in their work.

The original document was issued in April 2023 and was subsequently updated multiple times. The content below was extracted from the January 2025 version.

The usage of GenAI as a normal part of learning, teaching, and assessment is encouraged.

It is expected that the usage of generative AI will become a normal part of learning, teaching, and assessment from 2023/24 Semester One.

If students are allowed to use GenAI tools to help them create their assignment submission, clearly state to what extent they can use it.

It is expected that the usage of generative AI will become a normal part of learning, teaching, and assessment from 2023/24 Semester One.

GenAI tools include a wide range of AI models, such as text and image reasoning services and text-/image-to-image services running on the public cloud.

All PolyU staff and students can leverage M365 Copilot Chat via the PolyU Gen AI app, or by accessing it directly through the browser at https://www.microsoft365.com/chat.

M365 Copilot Chat utilizes the Microsoft Prometheus model, which is built upon OpenAI's GPT-4o.

The use of Copilot Studio requires the purchase of a Copilot Studio subscription license.

Effective from 2022/23 Summer Term

A student should make his/her appeal in writing first to the Head of Department hosting the programme within One Calendar Week upon the public announcement of his/her overall examination results

If the student has other grounds which warrant a review of the decision of the Head of Department, he/she may then appeal in writing to the Academic Registry within One Calendar Week from the date of the Department's reply.

A student who wishes to appeal against the decision on de-registration should complete and submit Form AR149 “Appeal against the Decision on De-registration” and relevant documentary proof to the General Office of the programme hosting Department/School within one calendar week of the announcement of the overall results.

Subscription-based

Subscription-based

plagiarism (copying others’ work as your own without full acknowledgement, including using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools without proper referencing)

Depending on configuration, grading may be AI-assisted, fully manual, or a hybrid (AI suggests scores/comments, instructor confirms/edits).

students should be accountable for their own work and they should properly acknowledge the use of Gen AI (if permitted) in their work.

PolyU takes an open and forward-looking stance on the use of GenAI tools as a positive and creative force in education, and the incorporation of such use in innovative learning, teaching, and assessment practices.

It is expected that the usage of generative AI will become a normal part of learning, teaching, and assessment from 2023/24 Semester One.

PolyU allows the use of GenAI for take-home continuous assessment tasks, but also upholds the principle that students should be accountable for their own work.

If the use of AI tools/materials should be restricted so that it will not defeat the purpose of authentic learning or assessment, the departments and subject teachers concerned have the responsibility to communicate the restrictions and the consequences of ignoring the restrictions to students explicitly in assignment briefs (and subject documents if appropriate) and preferably also verbally in class.

Teachers can submit student assessment outputs to AI detection tools to identify answers generated by GenAI. However, it should be noted that these tools may not always accurately identify GenAI output, therefore the results may not provide conclusive evidence of academic misconduct or otherwise. Further evidence (e.g. students’ understanding of or familiarity with the submitted materials, tangible evidence of doing the assignment such as drafts and writing notes) should be considered before passing a judgement.

Teachers can use GenAI (or any other tools or forms of aids) to assist them in the assessment of student learning but are reminded that they are fully responsible for setting and grading the assessment and are accountable for the quality and appropriateness of the assessment, including the feedback and grades given to students.

Teachers should also be mindful of data privacy and refrain from uploading personal data (e.g. names, student numbers) or confidential/sensitive information to public AI platforms.

Teachers should also be mindful of data privacy and refrain from uploading personal data (e.g. names, student numbers) or confidential/sensitive information to public AI platforms.

Teachers can leverage local AI models on PolyU Gen AI app to retain input and model output response data locally. Teachers can select “Explore” on left menu of PolyU Gen AI app to find out the list of AI models and their hosting locations.

resources provided by our library are governed by licensing terms that often prohibit the uploading of copyrighted materials to third-party platforms, including AI tools.