The method of teaching used in Corporate Finance relies on mutual trust between students and instructors. In particular, it is essential that the same teaching materials can be used in successive years of the course and that grading takes place on the assumption that students have not seen solutions to cases. Cases and exercises are difficult to produce and cannot normally be exchanged on an annual basis, so plagiarism questions the very foundations of the teaching approach at the Chair for Corporate Finance.

For these reasons it is therefore strictly forbidden to pass on teaching materials, in particular solutions to cases or any other exercises, or to make them public in any way. This prohibition concerns all other students, no matter whether these are students from the same course, different courses or even other universities. Clearly, it is also not allowed to obtain or attempt to obtain solutions to exercises or cases from students from previous years. We regard passing on solutions or obtaining solutions from other students as a clear breach of the examination rules. We regard this simply as cheating and this has nothing to do with legitimate cooperation or with "helping" other students.

We will do everything within our means to detect incidents where solutions were passed on or where they were obtained from students outside the study group that produced them. We will pursue any such incident as cheating and proceed accordingly. Specifically, students who are caught with solutions that were obtained from other students, or students who provided the original, will receive a failing grade and will be excluded from all other courses offered at the Chair for Corporate Finance. They will also not be allowed to write a thesis with us. In this we will normally treat all members of a study group alike.

Every student who enrols in our courses therefore has to acknowledge that s/he has been informed of these rules. We will also report all students who were found to violate these rules to the examinations office (Studienbüro).

Any other form of plagiarism, especially the use of material from internet sources without indicating the origin of such material, will be dealt with in a similar manner.

You agree that all your assessed coursework (in particular case studies) may be analyzed by plagiarism detection software (Turnitin). Copies of all papers submitted to the software will be retained as source documents in the iParadigms reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism.

Please help us to establish a sense of mutual trust between instructors and students in our courses.