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Academic integrity

Latest updates

Under the Academic Integrity Policy and associated Procedures suspected academic integrity breaches must be reported via the academic integrity dashboard.
Under the policy, unit coordinators can report and resolve minor plagiarism and recycling cases locally, in one action, if they deem it appropriate. Please note that these cases must still be reported via the academic integrity dashboard.

From Semester 2, 2025, the position on use of generative artificial intelligence in assessments (in Section 16 Allowable Assistance in the Academic Integrity Policy) changed.

Students are not permitted to use AI in secure (supervised) assessments, for instance exams and in-person practical or creative tasks unless express permission has been granted by the unit of study coordinator.
For open (unsupervised) assessments, students will be able to use AI, and need to appropriately acknowledge its use – provided they do so, this would not be a breach of academic integrity.
The "Use of AI" column in the assessment section of the unit outline indicates to students whether AI use is permitted. Information in this column is automatically aligned with the assessment category in the Sydney Curriculum system (AKARI).
For more information, refer to AI and Assessment.

Drop-in sessions

Do you need help interpreting the Academic Integrity Policy or reporting form? The Office of Educational Integrity is offering one-on-one support sessions. Register to attend one of these fifteen-minute sessions via Microsoft Bookings.

What is Academic Integrity?

'Academic integrity is a commitment to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, responsibility, fairness, respect... plus the courage to act on them even in the face of adversity. Without them, everything that we do in our capacities as teachers, learners, and researchers loses value and becomes suspect.' (The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity, International Centre for Academic Integrity, Third Edition).

Acting with academic integrity means students must follow ethical principles in all their dealings at university. It means entering into relationships based on mutual respect and trust, and always acting with honesty and fairness.

This includes:

students doing their own work, even if they find the work challenging;
correctly acknowledging where other sources, people or tools have contributed to their work in some way;
following all rules set for assignments and exams;
never seeking to gain an unfair advantage over others;
behaving honestly and appropriately in group work; and
ultimately, doing the "right thing" at University, even when things seem difficult and taking a shortcut to academic success seems easier.

Responsibilities

We all have a role to play in preserving the academic excellence and integrity of our teaching and research programs.

You must be familiar with your responsibilities and those of your students. Below is a summary of these, but you should also familiarise yourself with the relevant policies and codes of conduct.

Students

Uphold honesty and integrity in all academic matters.
Submit their own, original work, and cite the idea and work of others or technologies.
Ensure that they do not breach or collude with another person to breach academic integrity requirements.
Understand their intellectual property obligations, and refrain from misusing the University's teaching or course material.
Make all reasonable attempts to report potential academic integrity breaches to unit of study coordinators.

The Student Website contains more details on student responsibilities.

Unit coordinators

Understand the behaviours that the University considers to be academic integrity breaches.
Evaluate risks to the integrity of each assessment. Evaluations should be repeated each time a unit of study is taught.
Educate students about academic honesty and the conventions of your discipline, embedding this in a relevant context.
Determine what level of AI usage is appropriate and enforceable in context, and clearly communicate this to students, including through discussion with students and notes in Canvas.
Provide clear information and advice to students about their responsibilities and relevant university policies and procedures.
Provide clear information and advice to students about their responsibilities and relevant university policies and procedures.
Report potential breaches of academic integrity using the online reporting system. The new policy allows unit coordinators to handle instances of low-level or minor plagiarism or recycling with an educational focus, should they deem it appropriate. Cases can still be referred to the faculty educational integrity team for review.

Teachers and examiners

Understand the behaviours that the University considers to be academic integrity breaches.
Provide clear information and advice to students about their responsibilities, relevant university policies and procedures.
A teacher who suspects a student of failing to meet the requirements of academic integrity should forward the matter to the relevant unit coordinator or report the issue via the online reporting system.

Deans and faculties

Promote good practice and education on academic honesty in all units of study and award courses.
Oversee the development, review and integrity of assessment within each unit of study.
Appoint an educational integrity coordinator and, where appropriate, additional nominated academics as decision-makers.
Report annually to the Academic Board on steps taken to support academic integrity in light of reported breaches.

Educational integrity coordinators and nominated academics

Maintain consistent, procedurally fair decision-making and high standards of academic integrity within your faculty.
Monitor and report on instances of academic integrity breaches within your faculty.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education)

Through the Office of Educational Integrity:

Uphold the academic integrity of all courses across the University.
Coordinate the work of faculties to ensure consistency of relevant practices, processes and standards.
Maintain University-wide systems related to prevention, detection and recordkeeping.
Ensure all students have access to educational opportunities related to academic integrity.
Monitor and report breaches of academic integrity to faculties and the Academic Board.