Guidelines on Student Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

1. Purpose

These guidelines supplement the VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy but do not supersede it. They give more specificity on the principles and regulations of the ethical and responsible use of generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in academic work at VinUniversity. These guidelines aim to provide clear direction on how students can leverage these tools while maintaining academic integrity.

2. Scope

These guidelines apply to all VinUniversity students including undergraduate and graduate students. Faculty members are expected to incorporate these guidelines into their course design and to clearly communicate the specific GenAI expectations to students in their syllabus, assignment instructions, and discussions with students throughout the course.

3. Guiding Principles

GenAI has the potential to enhance learning, creativity, and productivity. VinUniversity believes that GenAI should support, not undermine, learning outcomes and students should always respect academic integrity. VinUniversity supports these principles for the ethical and responsible use of GenAI:

• Alignment with Learning Objectives: While VinUniversity embraces the potential of GenAI, it is committed to developing students’ holistic academic skills such as critical thinking, original thought, and creative expression. GenAI should enhance learning, not replace it. The use of GenAI tools must align with, and support, the learning outcomes of each course, when appropriate.
• Transparency: The extent to which GenAI is permitted in any assessment or learning activity is at the discretion of the course faculty. Faculty should clearly communicate their expectations and limits of GenAI use in major assessments through the AI Assessment Scale (AIAS) explained later in these guidelines, providing explicit guidelines on acceptable GenAI use.
• Honest Disclosure: When GenAI use is permitted, students must be transparent about their use of these tools and clearly acknowledge how GenAI was used. Submitting GenAI content as one’s own work without proper acknowledgment is a violation of academic integrity.
• Critical Engagement: Students should use GenAI tools with a critical lens to evaluate the quality, relevance, accuracy, and bias of AI-generated content. Students should use GenAI to enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills rather than replace them.
• Faculty, Program, and Discipline Variations: Faculty, programs, and disciplines each have their own levels of comfort, familiarity, and use cases of GenAI. Tolerances of GenAI will vary, so students should proactively consult with their faculty on the appropriate use of GenAI in their courses. Faculty and students are encouraged to explore and share ethical and effective ways of using GenAI in academic work to create a culture of experimentation and openness.
• Continuous Refinement: GenAI technology is rapidly evolving, so these guidelines and the broader Academic Integrity Policy will be reviewed periodically and updated to ensure that they remain relevant and effective.

4. Institutional Statement on the Ethical and Responsible Use of GenAI

VinUniversity supports the ethical and responsible integration of generative AI and other innovations in teaching and learning. We encourage VinUniversity students, faculty, teaching assistants, and staff to purposefully utilize generative AI through a critical lens to spark creativity and deepen understanding. However, submitting largely AI-generated work as one’s original work without formal acknowledgement fundamentally violates the principles of academic integrity. Generative AI has the potential to supplement and assist the learning process but must not replace the invaluable role of original human thought, analysis, and expression which are the core tenets of all academic endeavors.

As an institution, VinUniversity is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards of scholarly work while leveraging the potential of the purposeful, discerning, and responsible application of generative AI to enhance learning. Each faculty may have their own specific thresholds of acceptable generative AI use, so students should carefully review and adhere to the policies set by their instructors for a more nuanced understanding in each course. When in doubt, students should discuss with their instructor for clarity and confirmation.

5. Definitions

In addition to the definitions of the Academic Integrity Policy, some specific terms in the context of GenAI are defined here:

 AI detector tools: Software applications designed to analyze text and identify content that may have been generated by artificial intelligence systems, such as large language models.

 Acknowledgment: The practice of openly disclosing the use of GenAI tools or AI-generated content in academic work. This typically involves clearly indicating whether any AI assistance was used and, if so, which tool(s) and how they were used.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI): Artificial intelligence systems which can produce various types of content including text, code, images, audio, and video. Examples include (but are not limited to) large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Llama; image or video generators such as DALL-E, Flux, Midjourney, or Firefly; code producing tools like GitHub Copilot, CodeWhisperer, or Cursor; and other AI-powered tools that can create or manipulate content.

Prompt: A natural language text input which instructs an AI model to perform a task and generate an output. It is a question, command, or set of parameters for the AI model to generate relevant content or perform a particular task.

6. Permitted Use

Students are expected to adhere to the guidelines set by the faculty of each course. The use of GenAI in violation of course or assignment policy is considered a breach of academic integrity.

If there is any doubt about whether a specific use of GenAI is permitted or appropriate for an assignment or a course, students are responsible for discussing with the course instructor prior to using the tool for any academic work.

6.1. AI Assessment Scale

As there are a wide range of courses and instructors at VinUniversity with differing perspectives of the integration of GenAI in education, faculty may have course-specific policies that differ. To provide more specificity of the permitted use of GenAI tools at the course level, clear instructions for major assessments will be provided to students regarding acceptable use of GenAI tools. This will be communicated through an AI Assessment Scale (AIAS) which explicitly declares the thresholds of acceptable GenAI use for each major assignment and is clearly communicated to students. The AIAS empowers faculty to select the appropriate level of GenAI usage for their own contexts, based on their intended learning outcomes. The AIAS offers clarity and transparency for students and facilitates a nuanced approach which embraces the opportunities of GenAI while recognizing that there are instances where such tools may not be pedagogically appropriate or necessary.

6.2. Acknowledgement of Generative AI Use

When permitted, any use of GenAI must be formally acknowledged in submitted work. The specific requirements for this acknowledgment will be outlined in each course syllabus or assignment instructions. Failure to properly disclose AI use or submitting AI-generated content as one’s own original work constitutes academic dishonesty and will be treated as a violation under the VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy.

Acknowledgement of GenAI use typically includes a formal acknowledgment in the assignment submission stating which tool(s) were used, the specific prompts input into the tool(s), and how the AI-generated output was integrated into students’ work. The exact requirements and format of this acknowledgement will be determined by the course instructor.

Students may also be required to sign an honor code on every major assignment submission. This helps ensure that students are consistently aware of and accountable for GenAI usage in their academic work.

An example acknowledgement and honor code are shown in Appendix B. Faculty are welcome to adapt, as needed.

6.3. Responsibility for Fact Checking

Students are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of any content in their academic work, whether human- or AI-generated. Being mindful of the tendency of GenAI to hallucinate (where the AI model presents false or misleading information as fact), students should fact check and cross-reference with credible sources to critically assess GenAI output. Students are responsible for the final product that they submit and should be prepared to justify and explain any aspects of their assignments to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the work.

7. Detection Tools and Evidencing Originality

Faculty or teaching assistants may utilize AI detector tools at their discretion. Students agree to the use of these tools under the existing privacy policy of VinUniversity and the tool providers. In some cases, students may be asked to submit additional evidence of their work process, such as drafts, research notes, or other evidence. When AI use is suspected, students may be asked to explain their work process or recreate parts of their submission under supervised conditions. These measures are designed to ensure the authenticity of student work while allowing for the responsible use of AI tools.

8. Managing Suspected Violations

Any incidents related to the suspected misuse of GenAI in academic work will be handled according to the procedures outlined in the VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy. Reporting procedures follow the existing VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy. Repeated violations may result in escalation to a higher tier, according to the VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy.

Refer to Appendix A for the full list of tiers, example violations, possible outcomes, and actions to take. The examples provided are not exhaustive and in case of doubt, faculty should consult with Office of the Registrar for guidance.

9. Intellectual Property

Using GenAI has intellectual property (IP) implications. Uploading any content to these tools could result in that content becoming part of the training model, which may accidentally be visible to others and violate the rights of the IP owner.

Students are responsible for ensuring they have written permission from the instructor to upload any IP from the course, such as lecture slides, readings, recordings, supplementary materials, or assessment information. Making audio or video recordings of lectures and uploading them to GenAI meeting summarizing tools is strictly prohibited unless students have direct consent from the instructor.

10. Appendices

10.1. Appendix A: Tiers of Violations and Sanctions

Tier 1: Minor Violations – Verbal warning and remedial action

Description: Minor misuse of GenAI due to misunderstanding or lack of awareness. A Tier 1 violation occurs when a student’s misuse of GenAI (1) appears unintentional, or (2) can be reasonably attributed to a lack of understanding of instructor expectations or academic conventions, or (3) or considered minor or developmental in nature.

Examples:

• Partially, but not completely, acknowledging AI-generated content.
• Using GenAI in an unauthorized way in some parts of a minor assignment, not having a serious impact on the learning outcomes.
• Unintentionally exceeding the permitted level of AI use due to a legitimate misunderstanding of assignment instructions.

Potential Outcomes:

• Verbal warning
• Educational intervention on ethical and responsible GenAI use (i.e. training course, reading and follow-up task, etc.)
• Re-read the VinUniversity Academic Integrity policy / Guidelines on Student use of Generative Artificial Intelligence and undertake a reflective task
• Redo the specific assignment or activity, potentially in a controlled environment

Action to take: For Tier 1 violations, the faculty should:

1. Schedule a face-to-face or online meeting with the student.
2. Explain the suspected misuse of GenAI and why it is considered a violation.
3. Listen to the student’s perspective and explanation of how GenAI was used.
4. Educate the student on appropriate GenAI use / lack of use and the importance of transparency.
5. If use is inappropriate, issue a verbal warning and explain how to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
6. Assign any follow-up tasks, as relevant.
7. Document the conversation for internal records.

Example starting conversation: “It looks like you used AI for brainstorming in our recent assignment without disclosing it. Can you tell me more about how you used AI in this assignment? I’d like to explain why this is a concern and how we can ensure more ethical AI use in the future.”

Reporting: Tier 1 cases are recorded by the instructor but not reported to the Office of the Registrar unless multiple Tier 1 violations occur within the same course and is escalated to a Tier 2 violation.

Tier 2: Moderate Violations – Instructor-imposed Sanctions

Description: Intentional misuse of GenAI tools that compromises the assessment’s integrity. A Tier 2 violation occurs when (1) a student’s dishonest use of GenAI is intentional, significant, and the student can reasonably be expected to know that the act violated the Guidelines on Student use of Generative Artificial Intelligence / Academic Integrity Policy, or (2) if the student has committed multiple Tier 1 violations in the course and the instructor decides that the repeated incidents constitute a Tier 2 violation.

Examples:

• Submitting mostly or entirely AI-generated content as one’s own work without proper acknowledgment.
• Using AI for drafting in a Level 2 (“AI for Planning”) assignment where only ideation and research are permitted.
• Failing to critically evaluate and modify AI-generated content in a Level 3 (“AI for Collaboration”) assignment.
• Failing to acknowledge GenAI use and not providing any acceptable evidence of appropriate AI usage when required by the instructor.

Possible Outcomes:

• Reduced grade in the assessment.
• Failing grade in the assessment.
• Additional projects/assignments to be completed to get credit.
• Written action plan or learning plan required by instructor

Action to take:

For Tier 2 violations, the faculty should:

1. Schedule a formal face-to-face or online meeting with the student.
2. Clearly outline the suspected GenAI misuse and its implications.
3. Allow the student to explain their actions and provide any relevant context or evidence.
4. Discuss the importance of academic integrity and ethical GenAI use.
5. If inappropriate use, explain the potential consequences and the need for corrective action.
6. If inappropriate use, decide on appropriate sanctions (e.g., grade reduction, resubmission).
7. Document the meeting and outcomes and submit to the Registrar using the required e-form.

Example starting conversation: “In your recent assignment, I stated that this is a Level 2 assignment (“AI for Planning”), but it appears that you used AI for drafting the assignment. I’d like to discuss this with you, understand your perspective, give you a chance to provide any evidence, and then explain why this is a concern. We’ll also need to talk about the consequences and how to prevent this in the future.”

Reporting:

• Tier 2 cases must be reported to the Registrar using this e-form.
• Tier 2 cases are recorded on students’ VinUniversity Student Record on the Student Information System.

Tier 3: Serious Violations – Program-imposed Sanctions or Suspension

Description: Deliberate and extensive misuse of GenAI tools that undermines the purpose of a major assessment task in such a way that it causes gross inequality to students who completed the task honestly.

Examples:

• Extensive unauthorized use of GenAI in a significant assessment such as a capstone, thesis, or major project.
• Extensively using GenAI in a Level 3 assignment without any evidence of critical evaluation or modification.
• Intentionally and significantly misrepresenting the extent of GenAI use in the assignment acknowledgment form with the attempt to hide or mask usage.
• Using GenAI without authorization in a Level 1 (“No AI”) assignment.

Possible Outcomes:

• Failing grade in the course
• Immediate suspension from the course
• Written action plan or learning plan required by instructor
• The Program Director and instructor may require other remedial actions before the student can enroll in further courses at VinUniversity

Actions to take: For Tier 3 violations, the faculty should follow the process outlined in the VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy, ensuring that the Program Director is consulted and involved in the process.

Tier 4: Severe Violations which Warrant Suspension or Dismissal

Description: Repeated or egregious misuse of GenAI tools or misusing GenAI which causes significant harm to VinUniversity members or the reputation of VinUniversity. A Tier 4 violation is when the student’s act of academic dishonesty is so severe or egregious that it warrants a suspension, dismissal or other disciplinary actions of the highest order. All Tier 4 violations are referred to and decided by the Academic Integrity Council.

Examples:

• Multiple instances of submitting AI-generated work as one’s own across different courses in major assessments.
• Using AI to impersonate another student or VinUniversity member (such as ‘deepfakes’ or voice cloning).
• Hacking or manipulating AI tools to bypass university detection methods or to generate restricted content.

Possible Outcomes:

• Dismissal from VinUniversity
• Reduction or revoking of financial aid or scholarship
• Ban from certain activities or access to certain resources or facilities
• Rescinding admission into VinUniversity, a department, program, or internship
• Withdrawing or revoking a credential issued by VinUniversity
• Other sanction(s) as deemed appropriate by the Council

Actions to Take: For Tier 4 violations, the faculty should follow the process outlined in the VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy, ensuring that the Program Director, Dean, and other relevant leaders are consulted and involved in the process.

For detailed information on reporting procedures, sanctioning processes, and appeals, please refer to the overarching VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy.

10.2. Appendix B: Sample Acknowledgement Statement and Honor Code

You can download this form via: Appendix B – Sample Acknowledgement Statement and Honor Code

Honor Code

I, [full name], affirm that:

1. I fully understand and have adhered to the course policy on generative AI use for this specific assignment.
2. I have not used generative AI in any manner that violates the stated policy for this assignment.
3. I have accurately and completely disclosed all instances of generative AI use in the accompanying acknowledgment table.
4. I take full responsibility for the integrity and originality of the work I am submitting.

I understand that any violation of this honor code may result in disciplinary action as outlined in the VinUniversity Academic Integrity Policy.

Signature: [type your full name here]                              Date: [type the date of submission here]

Acknowledgement Table

▢ I have not used any AI tools in the creation or revision of this submission.

▢ I have used AI tools responsibly in this submission, in accordance with the course/assignment guidelines, AI Assessment Scale, and VinUniversity Policy on Student use of Generative Artificial Intelligence. I have summarized how I used them below (add/delete rows, if needed). I take full responsibility for the final content of this submission.