• Section 1 - Purpose:
• Section 2 - Scope
• Section 3 - Policy
• Section 4 - Procedure
• Section 5 - Responsibilities
• Section 6 - Definitions

Section 1 - Purpose:

(1) This Procedure supports the Academic Integrity Policy and describes how the University of Canberra (the University) will promote a culture of academic and research integrity.

(2) This Procedure sets out:

1. descriptions and examples of academic misconduct;
2. how the University will provide academic and research integrity education and support;
3. the strategies the University will apply to mitigate academic and research integrity risks and detect potential academic integrity breaches; and
4. the processes for conducting investigations for alleged academic and research integrity breaches.

(3) For staff, this Procedure should be read together with the University’s Charter of Conduct and Values, the University’s  Enterprise Agreement, the Academic Integrity Policy, and the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy.

(4) For students, this Procedure should be read together with the University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023 (the Student Conduct Rules), the Student Charter, the Academic Integrity Policy, and the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy.

(5) Alleged breaches of academic integrity may be investigated for academic and/or serious misconduct as follows:

1. for students, broad categories of academic and serious misconduct are defined in Rule 9 (2) of the Student Conduct Rules; and
2. for staff, academic misconduct is defined in Section 3 of this Procedure and serious misconduct is defined in the University’s Enterprise Agreement.

(6) While this Procedure discusses research integrity as a type of academic integrity, The Procedures for Dealing with Complaints about Breaches of the Responsible Conduct of Research 2018 states the process for considering allegations of research misconduct by staff and students.

Section 2 - Scope

(7) This Procedure has the same scope as the Academic Integrity Policy.

Section 3 - Policy

(8) Refer to Academic Integrity Policy. 

Section 4 - Procedure

Supporting Academic Integrity

(9) The University will regularly express its expectations in relation to academic and research integrity and its commitment to the values of academic and research integrity to its staff, students, future students, and affiliates through:

1. rules, policies, procedures, and contracts;
2. governance committees;
3. unit outlines;
4. Faculty and University communications to staff, students, and partner institutions; and
5. communication strategies to address particular academic and research integrity concerns.

Behaviours That May Be Breaches of Academic Integrity

(10) Breaches of academic and research integrity include (but are not limited to):

1. bribery and favours;
2. cheating;
3. collusion;
4. contract cheating and assignment outsourcing;
5. falsification, including falsification of data;
6. file sharing;
7. impersonation;
8. plagiarism; including:
   1. paraphrasing without proper acknowledgement (see ‘paraphrasing’ in the Definitions section of this Procedure);
   2. copying and pasting;
   3. washing (see ‘washing’ in the Definitions section of this Procedure);
   4. self plagiarism (see ‘self plagiarism’ in Definitions section of this Procedure);
   5. unauthorised use of artificial intelligence services; 
9. misrepresentation;
10. poor scholarship;
11. failing to comply with unit outlines, assessment notices, or instructions from University staff relating to assessment; and
12. any other form of academic dishonesty.

Education and Support for Students

(11) The University will make available its policies in plain English information and requirements on admission, withdrawal/cancellation of enrolment, recognition of prior learning, transition, progression, grading assessment, completion, appeals, equity and diversity, intellectual property, and academic and research integrity to students prior to their acceptance of an offer.

(12) The University will provide resources to support students in developing their study and research skills and understanding of academic and research integrity standards including guides to academic referencing, researching, note taking and writing, and understanding assessment tasks.

(13) Faculties will ensure that all coursework and higher degree by research (HDR) students successfully complete the Academic Integrity Module (AIM) as an unweighted hurdle task in the first teaching period of each calendar year in which they are studying in that course.

(14) Faculties will ensure that students enrolled in HDR courses also complete the Research Integrity Module (RIM) as an unweighted hurdle task in the first teaching period of the calendar year in which they are studying in that course. HDR students may be required to complete additional training and research as required by the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy.

(15) Students will receive a digital badge on successful completion of an AIM assessment demonstrating their understanding of academic integrity.

(16) For coursework courses, Course Conveners and/or Unit Conveners will provide clear expectations and discipline-specific academic and research integrity standards and ensure that students are familiar with the various behaviours that may breach academic integrity.

(17) Unit Conveners will define in the unit outline what is permissible for a particular assessment item or assessment type. For example, what type of collaboration is allowed; what kind of items are permitted in an exam; what referencing style and standard is expected; and whether the use of artificial intelligence services is permitted, and to what extent.

(18) Research supervisors and supervisory panels in both coursework and HDR courses will provide students with clear instructions on the University’s academic and research integrity expectations at the commencement of their course of study and at regular intervals during their course of study.

(19) Unit Conveners, research supervisors and supervisory panels, will define in writing what assistance is permissible in honours and HDR courses, assessment tasks or theses, including proofreading, editing and authorised uses of artificial intelligence services.

Education and Support for Students – Faculties

(20) Faculties will ensure that values of academic and research integrity and requirements, including correct referencing and acknowledgement of sources, are clearly articulated in unit outlines.

(21) Faculties will require all staff to take responsibility for detecting and reporting breaches of academic and research integrity.

(22) If a student is suspected to have engaged in behaviour that may be in breach of Rule 9 of the Student Conduct Rules, the matter may be referred to a Prescribed Authority in accordance with Rule 10(1).

(23) Faculties will require their staff, and staff at partner institutions teaching a faculty course, to complete the staff-focused AIM, and ensure that students studying at partnership locations are aware of their academic and research integrity responsibilities.

(24) Faculties may have their own local instructions to support academic and research integrity, and to complement this procedure.

(25) Faculties will investigate alleged breaches of academic and research  integrity and follow the process described in the Student Conduct Rules and the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy, as amended from time to time.

Strategies to Mitigate Risks

(26) The University will apply strategies to address the risk of academic integrity breaches, taking into account the diversity of causes.

(27) Assessment

1. Unit Conveners and Program Directors will design assessment to reduce opportunities for breaches of academic and research integrity, and reduce the pressure on students that can lead them to consider breaching academic and research integrity by:
   1. ensuring that the number and the weighting of assessments across the required units in a course in a teaching period is a reasonable load for full time student and for the unit’s identified level of study;
   2. utilising authentic and personalised assessment where appropriate;
   3. reviewing and revising assessment for each teaching period to reduce or eliminate any benefit to students accessing previous assessment tasks, including through use of file sharing sites;
   4. selecting question types in quizzes and exams which require application of higher order thinking; and
   5. including in unit outlines and assessment descriptions, details of behaviours that are permitted when researching, developing, completing and submitting assessment sand clearly communicating these to students.

Unit Management

(28) Unit Conveners will: 

1. ensure that students studying a unit have completed the AIM for the calendar year of their study and direct students who have not completed the AIM to do so;
2. include a text matching drop-box for draft assessments in the University’s Learning Management System (LMS) and ensure that students understand the meaning of the text matching reports;
3. provide access to resources for academic referencing as needed;
4. include explicit information about academic and research integrity expectations in course materials, learning activities, and assessment instructions;
5. refer students to University support services that develop study skills;
6. ensure students have information about how to request a reasonable adjustment plan as set out in the University’s Assessment Procedures;
7. provide information about the conditions under which extensions can be requested and ensure that students are aware of the relevant University policy and procedure; and
8. publicise the academic integrity statement students that must agree to when submitting an assessment coversheet into the LMS, and which applies to all assessment and is published in the unit outline.

(29) Access control to cheating sites

1. The University will block access to known cheating sites from its network.
2. If a person attempts to access a known cheating site from the University network the person will be notified it is a cheating site by an automatic pop-up notice.
3. Unit Conveners, Program Directors, research Supervisors and other staff involved in the review, detection, or investigation of breaches of academic and research integrity will be allowed to access known academic cheating sites from the University’s network.

(30) Detection strategies

1. The University will use its own, or third party, technical services to detect potential breaches of academic integrity. These include but are not limited to:
   1. text matching services;
   2. online invigilation and proctoring services and/or in person invigilation of assessment;
   3. search engines;
   4. assessment search and matching services;
   5. artificial intelligence detection services; and
   6. reverse image look up services.
2. The University will provide staff with guidance and training on strategies to help detect breaches of academic and research integrity.
3. Unit Conveners will monitor known academic cheating sites for sharing of the University’s assessments and course materials and take appropriate action; for example, issuing a take down notice, and seeking information including student-identifying data from the cheating site.
4. When investigating a possible breach of academic integrity, the University will seek data, evidence and information from its internal systems, and those of third-party services, and partner institutions to the extent allowed by law.

Investigating Alleged Breaches of Academic and Research Integrity – Students

(31) Behaviours by students that may be breaches of academic integrity and that may result in a finding of academic misconduct vary in seriousness. If a finding of academic misconduct is made under the Student Conduct Rules, outcomes will vary according to the seriousness of the misconduct. Outcomes for types of breaches of academic integrity are set out in the Student Conduct Rules.

(32) The process for conducting an investigation into an allegation of academic misconduct by a student is described in the Student Conduct Rules.

(33) Behaviours that may constitute a breach of the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy will be investigated in accordance with the Procedures for Dealing with Complaints about Breaches of the Responsible Conduct of Research 2018.

Education and Support – Staff

(34) All new academic staff must successfully complete the Academic Integrity Module within the first year of their employment.

(35) All new academic staff conducting or supervising research, or conducting research training, must successfully complete the Research Integrity Module within the first year of their employment.

(36) Faculties will ensure staff receive appropriate training in academic and research integrity, as required.

(37) Faculties will ensure staff are informed about procedures and protections that apply when raising allegations of breaches of academic and research integrity.

Investigating Alleged Breaches of Academic and Research Integrity – Staff

(38) Employee conduct that is inconsistent with the employee’s official duties as they relate to matters of academic integrity may constitute a breach of the Charter of Conduct and Values. 

(39) Where an employee’s behaviour may constitute a breach of the Charter of Conduct and Values, the procedures for investigating misconduct are set out in the Enterprise Agreement.

(40) If a finding of misconduct is made under the Enterprise Agreement, outcomes will vary according to the seriousness of the misconduct.

(41) Employee conduct that is inconsistent with the employee’s responsibilities under the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research 2018 may constitute a breach of the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy.

(42) Behaviours that may constitute a breach of the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy will be investigated in accordance with the Procedures for Dealing with Complaints about Breaches of the Responsible Conduct of Research 2018.

(43) Where an allegation of misconduct may constitute a breach under both the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research 2018 and the University’s Charter of Conduct and Values, the University will facilitate one investigation where all allegations are considered simultaneously.

(44) Depending on the nature and seriousness of the allegation made against the employee, and the outcome of any investigation into the conduct, the consequences for the employee will be determined in accordance with the Enterprise Agreement or the Procedures for Dealing with Complaints about Breaches of the Responsible Conduct of Research 2018 as relevant. Such consequences may include requiring the staff member to complete the AIM and/or the RIM again, and/or undertake further education activities.

Record Keeping 

(45) Faculties will maintain secure and confidential records relating to the management of alleged cases of academic misconduct in accordance with the University’s Privacy Policy and Records and Information Management Policy.

(46) The Deputy Vice-Chancellor will keep records of investigations of allegations of research misconduct, as set out in Procedures for Dealing with Complaints about Breaches of the Responsible Conduct of Research 2018.

(47) The University will keep records to show how it acted on information provided by faculties to improve its operations in regard to academic and research integrity.

Reporting

(48) The University will undertake a continuous cycle of monitoring and review of academic misconduct, and the improvement of processes and systems to protect academic integrity and reduce academic misconduct, to assure the University’s reputation and the integrity of its qualifications.

(49) The Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor Education, the faculties and the University Research Committee will report annually to Academic Board via the appropriate sub-committees on:

1. statistics and trends relating to allegations and cases of academic and research misconduct and summary inquiries for both coursework and research students;
2. how the allegations were dealt with; and
3. the strategies used to promote academic and research integrity and demonstrate a reduction in academic misconduct within the faculty. 

(50) Academic Board will report annually to Council with these statistics and trends and the strategies used to promote academic and research integrity and minimise academic misconduct.

Section 5 - Responsibilities

Section 6 - Definitions