Academic Integrity Procedure

Policy code: AG1944
Policy owner: Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Quality and Accreditation)
Approval authority: Provost
Approval date: 29 November 2023
Next review date: 30 September 2025

Purpose
Scope
Legislative Context
Definitions
Actions
1A Educating students about required standards of academic integrity
1B Educating academic/teaching staff about required standards of academic integrity
2. Adopting preventative strategies that mitigate the risk of academic misconduct
3. Being vigilant in detecting cases of academic misconduct
Supporting Documents
Responsibility
Promulgation
Implementation
Records Management

Purpose

This procedure supports Federation University's Academic Governance Policy. It acknowledges that integrity is key to all aspects of education and training and that academic honesty is the responsibility of all members of the University. It identifies behaviours and standards of conduct expected of the University community to encourage a learning environment of academic integrity. It details the actions required to embed these guiding principles and expected behaviours across the organisation. Suspected instances of academic misconduct are managed through the Academic Misconduct Procedure.

Scope

This policy is concerned with all breaches of academic integrity, which includes (but is not limited to):

  • Plagiarism
  • Contract cheating
  • Examination/test cheating
  • Duplicate submission
  • Fabrication
  • Impersonation
  • Academic Fraud
  • Solicitation and promoting the breach of academic integrity
  • Collusion
  • Non-compliance with examination instructions/requirements
  • Unauthorised use of artificial intelligence to create part thereof or all assessable content
  • Text-spinners
  • Use of techniques to disguise plagiarised work

This procedure applies to all Federation University students (HE and VET) and academic/teaching staff including those at partner organisations as is consistent with our contractual arrangements. It mandates a framework to support our shared academic principles and behavioural expectations of all members of the University’s community which are in addition to any professional codes of conduct and employment or enterprise agreements.

Additional policies and procedures need to be adhered to regarding the conducting of research. These cover ethics, data management, research integrity and misconduct.

Legislative Context

  • Federation University Australia Act 2010
  • Federation University Australia Statute 2021
    • Part 6 - Division 3 - Academic progress
    • Part 6 - Division 4 - Student misconduct
  • Federation University Australia (Students) Regulations 2022
    • Part 5 - Student misconduct
  • Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021

Definitions

Term Definition
Authorship The state or fact of being the writer or creator of a particular article, document, book, or piece of literary work.
Academic fraud This is a form of academic dishonesty and occurs when a person makes a false representation to gain an unfair advantage.
Academic honesty The principle that academic work is original and authentic and completed only with the assistance allowed.
Academic integrity Academic integrity is the honest and respectful engagement with the scholarships of learning, teaching, research and community. It is an essential moral code to be upheld by the academic community inclusive of staff and students.
Academic misconduct Conduct that conflicts with the principles of academic honesty and academic integrity and leads to an unfair advantage. Types of academic misconduct include: plagiarism, contract cheating, examination cheating, duplicate submission, unauthorised use of artificial intelligence to create part thereof or all assessable content, text-spinners, techniques to disguise plagiarised work, fabrication, impersonation, academic fraud, solicitation and promoting the breach of academic, collusion and non-compliance with examination/test instructions/requirements.
Bias(ed) Inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group of people, especially in a way to be considered unfair.
Breach An act or omission which is likely to have the effect of obtaining an advantage by unfair or unauthorised means.
Cheat/Cheating Cheating is a generic term used to describe an act of academic misconduct through which a student attempts to gain an unfair advantage in admission to or the assessment process for a unit.
Collusion The unauthorised act of a student presenting work, which is the outcome of directly working with others, as their own
Conflict of interest A conflict of interest arises where there is a divergence between the individual interests of a person and their professional responsibilities such that an independent observer might reasonably conclude that the professional actions of that person may be unduly influenced by their own interests. This can include actual, perceived or potential conflicts of interest.
Contract cheating Contracting/allowing another person or unauthorised use of artificial intelligence to create part thereof or all assessable content. Contract cheating includes paid and unpaid arrangements made through a third party, which includes friends/family.
Copyright

Copyright in Australia is governed by the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act). This legislation gives the owner of copyright in literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, sound recordings, films and broadcasts exclusive rights to use those works.

The types of uses include the right to:

  • reproduce/copy a work
  • to publish
  • to perform in public
  • to communicate the work to the public via electronic means - including making it available online or sending via email

This means that permission needs to be obtained from the owner of copyright before anyone can do any of the above mentioned acts.
Corrupt conduct Includes improper use of influence or position and/or improper use of information or other improper acts or omissions of a similar nature
Dishonest conduct Behaving in an untrustworthy, unfair, deceitful, fraudulent or insincere manner; unethical behaviour.
Duplicate submission Resubmitting or largely reusing previously assessed work as new work without permission from the lecturer/tutor.
Exam/test cheating

Includes:

  • Accessing/obtaining an advance copy of an examination/test paper unless otherwise authorised, e.g. a ‘seen’ paper.
  • Communicating with or copying from, another person/s during an examination/test.
  • Bringing into, or receiving during an examination/test, unauthorised material/information.
Impersonation Pretending to be another student and completing an assessment task/exam on their behalf.
Intellectual property (IP) IP covers the wide range of intangible property that is the result of creative and intellectual effort of individuals or organisations
Misrepresentation Occurs when a staff member/student presents an untrue statement about attendance or participation in practical, performance or professional learning activities, or includes citations to non-existent or incorrect sources or does not disclose any information or matter where there is a duty to disclose such information or matter.
Natural justice Refers to the requirement to provide an avenue of response and fair procedural process for the student where they may be subject to an adverse consequence.
Partner Providers An approved educational institution that delivers University courses/units as part of an agreement with Federation University Australia.
Plagiarism The presentation of work/s by another person/s as one’s own work by failing to properly acknowledge those person/s. Proper acknowledgement means to clearly identify which parts of a work originate from which source.
Research Integrity Integrity in research includes a commitment to the search for knowledge and understanding, to the recognised principles of research conduct, to the honest and ethical conduct of research, and to the honest and open dissemination of results.
Solicitation Occurs when a student or external agency requests, offers, encourages, induces or advertises for another individual/student to contract, commission, pay, procure, or complete on their behalf, assessment tasks or other items that are likely to result in their use for the purpose of cheating, misrepresentation and/or plagiarism. A student who willingly assists another to circumvent the purpose of assessment through solicitation, cheating, misrepresentation or plagiarism (for example by willingly sharing their own work, giving them access to their own work or advertising the availability of their own work or someone else’s work) is also breaching academic integrity, and may be subject to disciplinary action
Staff member Any person who is an employee of the University at the time of the alleged incident(s). This includes full-time, part-time, sessional or casual staff.
Student

A person enrolled in a formal course of learning in an educational institution and/or a workplace setting.

 
Transparency Refers to the rights of the student to be informed about their rights and choices under policy and procedures as well as decisions and actions taken relating to their matter or other people who may be informed about the matter. It also refers to the rights of the student to be provided and have explained the policy and procedure as it applies to any informal or formal actions taken by the university relating to the matter.

Actions

1A Educating students about required standards of academic integrity

Please note: Staff should refer to the Research Integrity Policy for further information on research matters and guidance on what constitutes Research Misconduct.

  ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY STEPS
A.                Educating students about the University’s expectations regarding academic integrity University/Academic/ teaching staff
Course Leaders
Course Coordinators
  1. Inform higher education coursework students that the Academic Integrity Module must be completed prior to completing their first assessable assignment.
  2. Create awareness of the University’s commitment to academic integrity by including a statement about academic integrity in unit documentation and links to relevant policies/procedures
Graduate Research School
  1. HDR students are required to successfully complete research integrity training, and are also informed about the Academic Integrity Module during the compulsory HDRinduction sessions that are held twice each year.
B.     Educating students adequately and consistently on how to correctly research, present and reference their work in an Australian in educational environment Academic/teaching staff
  1. Provide information to students on acceptable referencing practice, including the required referencing style
  2. Direct students to appropriate resources such as FedCite, which is available via the Library webpage or via the Study help tab in Moodle
  3. Alert students to the availability of additional support through, for example, the Library and Student Experience and Academic Services
  4. Provide transparent and consistent feedback to students on issues relating to referencing
  5. Model best practice in teaching materials and research output by acknowledging authorship and contribution to ideas
University
  1. In all forms of communication maintain an unequivocal commitment to academic integrity and a commitment to academic honesty
  2. Provide referencing resources on the University’s website
  3. Provide and promote on-campus and online referencing units
  4. Promote the benefit and availability of additional support services such as Learning Skills Advisors and the Academic Skills and Knowledge (ASK) course
  5. Provide and promote a Staff Academic Integrity Module (AIM) by 2023 and mandate all teaching staff and HDR supervisors undertake the AIM every two years.
Students
  1. Understand the importance of maintaining academic integrity not just to meeting university expectations and their course requirements but also to be able to apply their acquired knowledge and skills post-qualification
  2. Understand that academic misconduct includes (but is not limited to) the following:
    1. Plagiarism and failures to correctly acknowledge
    2. Contracting/allowing another person or unauthorised use of artificial intelligence to create part thereof or all assessable content on behalf of a student
    3. Submitting (for assessment or review) work prepared by another person
    4. Collusion – that is, the unauthorised collaboration on assessable work with another person or persons
    5. All forms of cheating in exams/tests
    6. Offering or accepting bribes (money, sexual or other favours), e.g. for admission or for grades
    7. Fabrication or falsification of information
    8. Use of text-spinning tools
    9. Techniques employed to disguise plagiarised work
  3. Understand how to research, present and reference their work
  4. Self-educate or seek further assistance if required

1B Educating academic/teaching staff about required standards of academic integrity

Please note: Staff should refer to the Research Integrity Policy for further information on research matters and guidance on what constitutes Research Misconduct.

  ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY STEPS
A.                Providing academic/teaching staff with information about academic integrity

Director, Learning & Teaching

Academic Integrity Officers
  1. Encourage academic/teaching staff to familiarise themselves with the staff Academic Integrity Module (AIM), and academic integrity Moodle shell produced for studentsavailablehere.
B.                Providing academic/teaching staff with information about: warning signs that may indicate academic misconduct and detection strategies

Director, Learning & Teaching

Academic Integrity Officers
  1. Produce and circulate a standardised presentation that will assist in (i) identifying possible warning signs of academic misconduct when reviewing students’ work and (ii) detection strategies.

Warning signs include (but are not limited to) the following that may require further investigation/review:

  1. High similarity in Turnitin
  2. Differences between student’s spoken and written English and/or differences between the standard of written English in previous assessments compared to the current assessment
  3. Unusual failure to answer the question and/or failing to provide examples relevant to the assessment task (possibly indicating that a standard, off-topic essay/case study has been purchased)
  4. Incorrect referencing details e.g. journals that do not exist
  5. References that are misrepresented, inappropriate or irrelevant
  6. Inclusion of material that was not covered in class or recommended reading and is markedly outside the scope or above the expected level of the student’s assessment/unit/course
  7. Submission of material/computer code/artwork that is of a significantly higher standard than previous work and/or class contributions

Detection strategies include (but are not limited to) the following:

  1. Become educated about the electronic resources available to students in their discipline
  2. Use search engines to find sites that students are likely to find by using a likely search phrase
  3. Let students know of their awareness of particular sites
  4. Make use of text, image or other media matching detection software
  5. Ensure all websites listed in the reference list are current and contain the information cited
  Academic/teaching staff
  1. Familiarise themselves with University-produced material regarding academic integrity and academic misconduct
  2. Seek clarification where necessary/appropriate.

2. Adopting preventative strategies that mitigate the risk of academic misconduct

Please note: Staff should refer to the Research Integrity Policy for further information on research matters and guidance on what constitutes Research Misconduct.

        ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY STEPS
A. Role modelling academic integrity to students Academic/teaching staff
  1. Ensure material presented to students meets high standards of academic honesty and avoids academic misconduct
B.        Designing assessment tasks that lessen the opportunity of cheating/plagiarism Director, Learning & Teaching
  1. Support and educate academic/teaching staff in the development and implementation of innovative approaches that may reduce the opportunities to commit academic misconduct
All academic/teaching staff and
Course Coordinators
  1. Use essay topics/scenarios/worked examples/case studies that rely on analysis and evaluation rather than collection and description
  2. Avoid where possible setting the same assignment topic in consecutive semesters
  3. Use alternatives/variations to standard assignments e.g. require students (or a sample of students) to submit progress or non-final reports on their assignments or require students to make a brief presentation (a form of invigilation) in tutorials on their assignments
  4. Where appropriate, make use of an oral examination (viva)
  5. Avoid an excessive number of assessable tasks
  6. Ask students to provide library site and call number and/or website details of all sources
  7. Collect an annotated reference list before an assignment is due
  8. Insist on evidence for significant claims and do not assess unless provided
  9. Ask students what they learned from a particular task
  10. Make positive use of collaborative work, having provisions to counter ‘free riders’
  11. As appropriate use invigilated assessments
C.        Communicating assessment/examination requirements to students Course Coordinator/Partners/Academics associated with delivery of a unit or course
  1. Communicate requirements as per the Higher EducationAssessment Procedure, Higher Education Examinations Procedure, HDR thesis and examinations procedure, and VET Assessment Procedure
D.        Making every effort to avoid academic misconduct by taking responsibility for understanding what constitutes academic misconduct and assessment/ examination requirements Students
  1. Undertake assessment tasks responsibly and with honesty and integrity, and without academic misconduct
  2. Do not purchase material for use in assessment(s) or submit material (for assessment or review) prepared by another person
  3. Do not collaborate with others on assessment tasks unless collaboration has been deemed permissible in the assessment task
  4. Do not copy other people’s work or allow people to copy their own
  5. Make every effort to reference correctly and not plagiarise
  6. Understand and comply with the legislation and procedures of the University regarding plagiarism and seek help if unclear about the requirements
  7. Be familiar with, and apply, the referencing practices acceptable to the unit
  8. Ensure that all sources of information are appropriately acknowledged
  9. Check and improve assessable tasks using a text matching software tool provided by the University (where relevant and available) prior to submission
  10. Take responsibility for the work that is submitted which includes taking precautions to ensure work cannot be copied, in whole or part
  11. Sign a declaration when submitting each assessment that they have complied with requirements
  12. Actively engage and seek academic support or self-educate based on feedback from academic/teaching staff
  13. Do not cheat in exams/tests and take responsibility for understanding special conditions that apply to their examination. e.g. open book, limited open book, closed book, non-programmable calculators allowed.
E.         Ensuring security of student-submitted assessment/examination materials Course Coordinator/Academic/teaching staff/Partner
  1. Ensure security of assessments as per the Higher Education Assessment Procedure and VET Assessment Procedure
  2. Ensure security of examinations as per the Higher Education Examinations Procedure

3. Being vigilant in detecting cases of academic misconduct

Please note: Staff should refer to the Research Integrity Policy for further information on research matters and guidance on what constitutes Research Misconduct.

  ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY STEPS
A.    Utilising detection strategies Academic/teaching staff/HDR supervisors/
Course Coordinator/
Program Coordinator
  1. Familiarise themselves with University-produced material regarding academic misconduct warning signs and detection strategies
  2. Utilise the Academic Misconduct Procedure where academic misconduct is suspected

Supporting Documents

Forms

Responsibility

  • Academic/teaching staff and students are responsible for ensuring they comply with this Procedure and uphold and promote high standards of academic integrity.
  • Executive Deans/Deans, and Executive Directors/Directors are responsible for monitoring the academic integrity of academic/teaching staff and students, and actioning complaints and/or allegations of breaches.
  • Provost (as the Approval Authority) is responsible for monitoring the implementation, outcomes and scheduled review of this procedure.
  • Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Quality and Accreditation) (as the Document Owner) is responsible for maintaining the content of this procedure as delegated by the Approval Authority.

Promulgation

The Academic Integrity Procedure will be communicated throughout the University community in the form of:

  • An Announcement Notice via FedNews website and on the ‘Recently Approved Documents’ page on the ‘Policies, Procedures and Forms @ the University’ website to alert the University-wide community of the approved Procedure.

Implementation

The Academic Integrity Procedure will be implemented throughout the University via:

  1. Information Sessions; and/or
  2. Training Sessions
  3. Embedding in preparatory programs for students
  4. Embedding materials in staffinduction programs
  5. Development and advertising of Moodle Shell resources

Records Management

NIL

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Policy Glossary

Approval Authority: Provost Original Issue 05/10/2017
Policy Sponsor: Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Quality and Accreditation) Current Version: 29/11/2023
CRICOS Provider Number 00103D Review Date: 30/09/2025
TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12151 Provider Category: Australian University
RTO Code 4909 Policy Code AG1944