BOSSES at a North-East university angrily denied its new policy on plagiarism condoned students who copied someone else's work.

A story in the Times Higher Education Supplement today says the University of Sunderland is ignoring undergraduates who copy.

It states that students will be able to plagiarise up to a fifth of their work and get away with it.

A university spokesman said: "To be accused of condoning plagiarism when we are constantly bringing in new measures to combat the problem is ridiculous.

"The Times Higher Education Supplement has been selective with the facts.

"Our policy statement on plagiarism cannot be deemed too lenient or to be turning a blind eye. The policy is a staged approach to what we, and every other institution, consider an extremely serious issue."

Under the new system, to be introduced from September, a first-year undergraduate will be able to avoid punishment for minor offences of plagiarism during the first term only.

The university said it will clamp down hard after then.