Procedures: how a student defends themselves in Peru

This guide explains, with sources, what stages the formal procedure has when a Peruvian university accuses you of plagiarism or academic fraud on the strength of a detector, and where Descargo fits in each. Spain and Colombia are in procedures.md, Mexico in procedures-mx.md, Argentina in procedures-ar.md, and Chile in procedures-cl.md.

This is not legal advice. It is public information put in order. Every fact carries its source and the date a person checked it by reading the official text. What could not be checked is marked to verify. Every university also has its own rules, which take precedence over the general ones: read yours in full before replying to anything.

A detector's percentage is an indication, not a sanction. To sanction you, the university has to open a procedure and let you defend yourself within it.

What applies (checked 2026-11-08)

• The Constitución, art. 18: «Cada universidad es autónoma en su régimen normativo, de gobierno, académico, administrativo y económico» (each university is autonomous in its normative, governance, academic, administrative and economic regime), and universities «se rigen por sus propios estatutos en el marco de la Constitución y de las leyes» (are governed by their own statutes within the framework of the Constitution and the laws) (edition of the Congreso, 2026).

• The Ley Universitaria, Ley 30220 (official edition of the Ministerio de Justicia, updated to 2023-12-28), unlike in other countries, sets a national minimum:

  • Students who fail in their duties «deben ser sometidos a proceso disciplinario» (must be subjected to disciplinary proceedings), and there are three possible sanctions: written warning, suspension for up to two academic terms, and permanent expulsion, applied by the governing body «de acuerdo al Estatuto y según la gravedad de la falta» (in accordance with the Statute and according to the seriousness of the offence) (art. 101).

  • Among the duties is «Cumplir con esta Ley y con las normas internas de la universidad» (to comply with this Law and with the university's internal rules) (art. 99.3). The law does not mention plagiarism among the student's duties; each university's rules define and sanction it.

  • Every university has a Tribunal de Honor Universitario, which issues «juicios de valor sobre toda cuestión ética» (value judgements on any ethical question) and proposes sanctions to the Consejo Universitario (art. 75).

In public universities: the Ley 27444

The Texto Único Ordenado (TUO) of the Ley 27444, on General Administrative Procedure (Decreto Supremo 004-2019-JUS, text published 2019-01-25) applies to the bodies of the Public Administration, among them «Los Organismos a los que la Constitución Política del Perú y las leyes confieren autonomía» (the bodies to which the Political Constitution of Peru and the laws grant autonomy) (Título Preliminar, art. I). Its sanctioning chapter applies «con carácter supletorio» (on a supplementary basis) to the procedures of special laws, which cannot impose «condiciones menos favorables» (less favourable conditions) (art. 247.2). What it says:

• Due process: there is no sanction without a procedure, and «la fase instructora y la sancionadora» (the investigating stage and the sanctioning stage) must be kept apart, «encomendándolas a autoridades distintas» (entrusting them to different authorities) (art. 248.2).

• Charges: they are notified to you and you have, for your defence (descargos), a period that «no podrá ser inferior a cinco días hábiles» (may not be shorter than five working days) (art. 255.3).

• Final report: the investigating authority proposes the sanction or the closing of the case in a reasoned final report, which is also notified to you so that you can submit your defence within «un plazo no menor de cinco (5) días hábiles» (a period of not less than five (5) working days) (art. 255.5).

• Limitation period: if the special rule sets no period, four years (art. 252.1).

To verify: how each public university applies these rules to the discipline of its students, and whether there are amendments to the text after 2019 that affect these articles.

Example: the PUCP, a private university

Source: the Reglamento Unificado de Procedimientos Disciplinarios de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (Unified Regulation of Disciplinary Procedures), text in force with the amendments up to Resolución Rectoral 1346/2021 of 2021-10-18, which only changes art. 11 to create a committee for sexual harassment cases (text published by the PUCP; summary on its microsite). Use this example to know what to look for in your university's regulation, not as if it were yours.

What counts as an offence

• The regulation defines plagiarism: presenting «como propios todos o algunos elementos originales» (as one's own all or some original elements) of a work «producida por otra persona» (produced by another person) (art. 6.11).

• «Cometer plagio o cualquier otro acto análogo, presentando ideas ajenas como si fueran propias» (committing plagiarism or any other analogous act, presenting others' ideas as if they were one's own) is a serious offence (Anexo 2, no. 21). In a group assignment, the whole group answers for the final work (Anexo 2, no. 12).

• A serious offence is sanctioned with suspension for one to sixteen academic weeks (art. 31). In addition, the plagiarised work is not graded and receives a mark of zero (00) that cannot be made up (art. 76.1).

• In setting the sanction, one of the criteria that counts is this: «La existencia o no de intencionalidad en la conducta del infractor» (whether or not there was intent in the offender's conduct) (art. 33.7). A detector's percentage says nothing about intent: it is a point for your defence.

• A serious offence lapses after 36 months (art. 47).

The stages of the procedure

The deadlines are in working days.

1. Preliminary investigation. It is carried out by the Secretaría Técnica, which is the investigating body (arts. 42 and 55).

2. Opening. You are notified, by PUCP email or at your home address, of the facts, the type of offence, the possible sanctions, and which bodies investigate, decide and hear appeals (art. 57).

3. Defence (descargos). You have six working days from notification to submit it in writing. You can ask for an extension, only once and of up to three days, if you ask two working days before the deadline expires (art. 61).

4. Evidence. You can provide documents, reports, expert opinions commissioned by a party, and testimony. The Secretaría Técnica can reject them only with reasons. The evidence period is fifteen working days (art. 62).

5. File. You and your lawyer have the right to see the file and to obtain a copy throughout the procedure, by asking two working days in advance (art. 46).

6. Final report. The Secretaría Técnica proposes the sanction or a finding that there was no offence (art. 63). It is notified to you and you have at least six working days for further defence submissions (art. 65). You can ask for an oral hearing (informe oral) before the Comisión (art. 66).

7. Resolution. It is issued by the Comisión, with the facts proven, the reasons and the rule, and it cannot rest on facts other than those established (art. 67).

8. Challenges. There are two, within fifteen working days of notification: reconsideration, before the same Comisión and only with new evidence (art. 70), and appeal to the Tribunal Disciplinario, which is the last instance (art. 71). Filing either one suspends the execution of the sanction (art. 75).

Example: the UNMSM, a public university

Source: the Reglamento de Proceso Disciplinario para Estudiantes de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Regulation of the Disciplinary Process for Students), approved by Resolución Rectoral 03500-R-12 of 2012-07-03 (text published by the UNMSM, scanned). Resolución Rectoral 006134-2025-R added a complementary provision in 2025 and left «vigente todo lo demás» (everything else in force) (text on gob.pe). It predates the 2014 Ley Universitaria: how it fits with the Tribunal de Honor is to verify.

• The offences include «El plagio parcial o total de trabajos de investigación» (partial or total plagiarism of research work, art. 6.e). The sanctions are a verbal warning, a written warning, suspension and expulsion (art. 10).

• Opening. The complaint goes to the Dean of your faculty, who opens the process or not by resolution. The resolution that opens it cannot be appealed (arts. 16 and 17). Before that, the committee may ask the parties for information for the preliminary assessment, within no more than 21 working days (complementary provision of 2025).

• Defence. The Comisión Disciplinaria para Alumnos notifies you within three working days, and you have five working days for your written defence, extendable by five more for a justified cause if you ask (art. 16).

• Length. Thirty working days, extendable by thirty more for evidence or the final opinion (art. 19).

• Hearing. The Consejo de Facultad summons you to defend yourself, and you may bring your counsel (art. 20).

• Appeals. An appeal to the Consejo Universitario within fifteen working days of being notified of the rector's resolution (art. 20), and then a review by the Asamblea Universitaria (art. 21).

If the university does not respect your rights

The amparo action lies against the act or omission of «cualquier autoridad, funcionario o persona» (any authority, official or person) that infringes or threatens rights under the Constitution (Constitución, art. 200.2). According to the Nuevo Código Procesal Constitucional, Ley 31307 (text of the Tribunal Constitucional; the Ley 32153, of 2024, did not amend these articles):

• You must first exhaust the prior remedies, such as the internal appeal (art. 43).

• The deadline «prescribe a los sesenta días hábiles de producida la afectación» (lapses sixty working days after the infringement occurred) (art. 45).

• They need not be exhausted if a decision that is not the last in the administrative route is carried out before the time to let it become final has run out, or if exhausting them could make the harm irreparable (art. 43, 1 and 2). Art. 44 protects, among others, the right to education (19) and effective procedural protection (18).

• The facts must also relate «en forma directa al contenido constitucionalmente protegido del derecho invocado» (directly to the constitutionally protected content of the right invoked) (art. 7.1).

What the Tribunal Constitucional has said (judgments read on tc.gob.pe; they apply the earlier procedural code, Ley 28237, whose arts. 45 and 46, on prior remedies and their exceptions, are now covered by art. 43):

• A disciplinary sanction can reach an amparo, on procedure. In Exp. 01981-2011-PA/TC (2011-10-14, Second Chamber), a student was expelled from the (private) Universidad de Piura by a letter with no concrete facts or rules. The Tribunal upheld the claim for breach of due process, the duty to give reasons and the right of defence (Constitución, art. 139, 3, 5 and 14), and said due process also binds private bodies. It required that the charges be notified beforehand, in writing, with time to answer them, ordered the student reinstated and left the university free to open a new procedure. It did not assess the conduct or how serious it was. Nor did it require the internal appeal, because the sanction took effect at once.

• A rule-based academic decision, no. In Exp. 00029-2015-PA/TC (2018-11-21, Full Court), the removal of a medical student from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia for failing a course a second time was held unfounded: the university applied its assessment rules, within the autonomy of the Constitución (art. 18), and the Tribunal found no unreasonableness or lack of defence, since the student had appealed internally.

Neither concerns plagiarism. To verify: a Tribunal Constitucional judgment on a plagiarism sanction against a student (none found), the contentious-administrative route against public universities, and whether the doctrine of these two rulings, from 2011 and 2018, still holds. See a professional as soon as you receive the final resolution.

To verify

• How each public university regulates its procedure and its Tribunal de Honor. At the UNMSM, what the 2025 Reglamento del Tribunal de Honor Universitario changes (Resolución Rectoral 000533-2025-R): its annex is not published with the resolution, and that resolution orders the student committee's functions to be adapted.

• Whether the amparo action lies against a plagiarism sanction on a student: the Tribunal Constitucional has accepted it against a disciplinary expulsion for defects in the procedure (2011) and rejected it against a rule-based academic removal (2018), but no judgment on plagiarism has been found.

Where Descargo fits

How this was checked

The Constitución, the Ley Universitaria, the TUO of the Ley 27444 and the Código Procesal Constitucional were downloaded from the websites of the Congreso, of the Government of Peru (gob.pe) and of the Tribunal Constitucional, and the PUCP's regulation from the university's website, on 2026-11-08. On 2026-11-10 the text the PUCP publishes was checked to be version 2020-006 (the same as the previous one except art. 11), and the UNMSM's regulation (text recognised from the scan and checked against the image) and the two 2025 resolutions from gob.pe were read. Also on 2026-11-10, judgments 01981-2011-PA/TC and 00029-2015-PA/TC were read on the Tribunal Constitucional's website, along with arts. 43 and 44 of the Código Procesal Constitucional. The quotations were searched for in the text. Rules change: check this document's date and that the text is still in force before relying on it.

Source text of this guide on GitHub