The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has effectively expelled 50 students from studying at the institution for between one and two years. Half of them produced fraudulent medical certificates after being absent during exams.

News24 reports that according to a document titled ‘Disciplinary Hearing Outcomes, June 2024’, the 25 students with questionable sick notes were expelled for five years, of which three years were suspended.

Among them were two fifth-year law students, one registered for the criminal procedure module, and the other for jurisprudence.

This comes in the wake of recent moves by the Department of Business Management at Unisa to flag some exam scripts for the Strategic Implementation and Control module as ‘disciplinary cases’ after it was discovered that artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which were banned for the assessment, were allegedly used.

Meanwhile, the 25 remaining UJ students who faced disciplinary hearings convened by the Department of Student Judicial Services were found guilty of various other transgressions.

These included 11 for using unauthorised notes and having unauthorised notes on their cellphones, four for plagiarism, two for visa fraud, two for producing fraudulent matric results, one for being in possession of prohibited substances, one for fraud and forgery, and one for assault GBH.

One student was found guilty of assault with aggravating circumstances, damage to property, and breach of rental agreement.

UJ spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen said the submission of fraudulent medical certificates by students during exams was a common phenomenon at universities nationally and internationally.

He added that the university employed several verification measures to ensure the authenticity of medical certificates submitted by students, including cross-referencing with medical providers, verifying contact information, and examining the formatting and content of the certificates.

Full News24 report