UWA has a requirement to uphold academic integrity, not only to retain the value of our degrees, but also as required by our external government legislator, TEQSA.

The University has various methods to ensure integrity, and all staff have a responsibility to promote and help maintain academic integrity through educating you as students on what integrity means. Staff also have a responsibility to detect academic misconduct and report this for investigation.

UWA is using additional software to support the detection into suspected academic misconduct. As part of the Turnitin suite of tools (Originality and Authorship), the University uses different platforms to detect suspected misconduct which covers plagiarism, collusion, contract cheating and other forms of outsourcing.

The Authorship tool shows indicators of when student assignments might have been outsourced to other people, such as companies, other students, friends of family. This behaviour constitutes contract cheating and is a form of academic misconduct as defined by the Academic Integrity Policy. Any assignments flagged as having potential contract cheating will be investigated further by your School and/or the Integrity and Standards Unit.

The University is also increasing its training for staff in how to detect other forms of academic misconduct, such as the inappropriate use of AI to complete assignments.

As a UWA student you are a member of this University community, and you are asked to work to uphold the principles of academic integrity during your course of study.

The University Policy on Student Rights and Responsibilities, which sets out the expectations and responsibilities of students, specifically states that: “Every student has the responsibility to respect and uphold principles of scholarly integrity and adhere to the principles of ethical scholarship and academic integrity during the course of their studies at UWA”.

All students have a responsibility to:

1. Familiarise themselves and act in accordance with this policy and expectations, and those of relevant programs and courses, by using the information and guidance provided by the University and staff;
2. Meet any University requirements for students to undertake ethical scholarship training made available by the University, and seek additional assistance if needed;
3. Submit original work for assessment which meets the requirements of Academic Integrity; and
4. Avoid all acts which could be considered or perceived as academic misconduct.

Academic misconduct can take many forms (and not limiting to the following), some of which you may undertake accidentally:

• Plagiarism
• Collusion
• Exam cheating
• Contract cheating
• Artificial Intelligence – unauthorised/improper use
• Fabrication/falsification – deceit such as misrepresentation, unethical data use and falsification/fabrication of data
• File sharing
• Solicitation
• Editorial assistance – unauthorised/improper use

Remember, you always need to acknowledge where ideas were first presented, even if you were the original source. If you are allowed to use AI in your assignment, make sure that you clearly read the brief to understand the limits of what AI is or is not allowed to produce your work. You may be asked to save your prompts or different versions of your work, so always keep anything that you do as you create and complete your assignments.

Minimising academic misconduct (including plagiarism and other forms of cheating) is an important part of the University's commitment to extend positive educational approaches among students that will help reduce any instances of academic misconduct.

You can easily avoid academic misconduct by making sure that you never copy the work of others and follow the requirements of the assignment (as described in your assignment brief). Different types of assessments may have different academic conventions, especially in different disciplines, such as different ways to cite or reference the work of others in your submitted assignments. Make sure that you are familiar with these and review and engage with the content provided to you in your units.

Never copy the work of others without paraphrasing and/or referencing it (sometimes a direct quote is OK). Make sure that if you have taken the ideas, designs, theories, codes or text from anyone else you reference it properly. It needs to be clear to anyone reading your assignment where the work has come from – what is your work and what is not. 

If you are completing group work, make sure that you submit any individual elements on your own, and that only the allowed group section is completed as a group. It is always OK to study together and share ideas, we encourage collaboration! But – collusion is a different thing! You need to make sure that you are aware of what constitutes academic misconduct and what our definitions are for the different types of behaviours. If ever in doubt, go to speak to staff in the Library or Academic Skills teams.

The  following university resources can help you to better understand the importance of academic integrity and how to avoid academic misconduct:

• Academic Skills
• Study Support
• The Library

If you receive an allegation of suspected misconduct you will be provided with information on where to get help and advice, as well as any evidence related to the suspicion. You should always review this carefully so that you can respond to the allegation. If this suspicion is a mistake you can bring information to show that. If you did engage in misconduct, it is always better to be open and honest about this. We know that students can be under pressure from studies, work and adapting to life as a student, as well as pressures from family and others. Be open and honest when having conversations about your academic misconduct, we are here to help you and want to get you back on the right track. You can chat to the Guild at any time as well, through the student assist team: https://www.uwastudentguild.com/student-assist

• University Policy on Academic Integrity (UP21/12)
• University Policy on Student Rights and Responsibilities (UP07/132)
• Regulations for Student Conduct and Discipline

UWA is here to help you. We have a range of free and secure support services to assist you with assignments and exam preparation, so you can feel confident in completing your work to the best of your ability. We know that for some of you, you feel that there's extra pressure placed on you to succeed, so be sure to reach out for help if you are feeling nervous or stressed.

• University charter of student rights
• Guild Student Assist
• Turnitin
• Special consideration
• UWA mental health and wellbeing services