Just as all communities have accepted standards for behaviour, academic communities expect members to act with academic integrity. As a student at RMIT, you are responsible for upholding the academic integrity of the university.
What is academic integrity?
Understanding academic integrity will help you succeed as a member of the RMIT academic community.
"Academic integrity means acting with the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility in learning, teaching and research. It is important for students, teachers, researchers and professional staff to act in an honest way, be responsible for their actions, and show fairness in every part of their work. All students and staff should be an example to others of how to act with integrity in their study and work.” (Exemplary Academic Integrity Project, 2013).
Play the video for a brief overview of academic integrity:
Academic integrity means acting with honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility in learning, teaching and research. This includes doing your own original work, respecting and acknowledging the work of other people, and clearly stating when you use someone else's ideas, words or images by citing correctly in the body of your work and referencing your sources accurately.
Academic integrity involves recognising people and publications that have influenced your thinking and taking personal responsibility for the way you behave in an academic context. It's important to complete individual assignments on your own or acknowledge who you work with in group assignments. You should always behave with integrity in exams and assessments.
Failing to recognise someone else’s ideas by: not referencing, dishonestly working with another student on an individual assignment, or cheating on an exam or assignment, can result in a charge of Academic Misconduct. Other examples include paying or asking someone to write an assignment for you or attempting to bribe someone in the academic community.
Academic Misconduct can have serious consequences for both your academic and professional career. In some academic cultures, copying content may be seen as honouring the creator. However, at RMIT you must clearly state where ideas, words and images originated because they belong to the person or people who created them.
Everyone has a responsibility for maintaining academic integrity, but don't worry, there's lots of support available. You can ask your tutor or lecturer to clarify the task. You can also take your assignment to the study support hub for extra help or use the Ask the Library online chat service. While they can’t write the content for you, they can help you with structure and grammar.
By strengthening your understanding of academic integrity, you can develop skills which will be valuable throughout your work and life.
Understanding academic misconduct
It is important to understand what academic misconduct is in order to avoid it. The four main forms of academic misconduct are:
Collusion – working with others to do an assessment that was meant to be completed individually
Improper exam conduct – giving or receiving help during exams, including using prohibited technology or tools.
Plagiarism – using someone else’s work or ideas without giving them proper credit
Academic integrity in Australia
Academic integrity is taken very seriously in Australia, and there have even been people who have had their degrees withdrawn, after graduation, when they were found to have cheated.
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is the federal government agency responsible for standards in tertiary education. TEQSA enforces regulations relating to universities, including academic integrity. In fact, contract cheating services—companies that charge students money to write their assessments for them—are illegal thanks to TEQSA. Not only is it illegal to take money to do someone else’s assessments, it is illegal to buy an essay or other assignment from anyone.
Students need to be aware of the requirements for their studies. This includes knowing what is considered cheating or colluding, and what is acceptable practice. When in doubt, your instructor can answer questions about what is expected in your course.
Please note: The examples on this page use the APA referencing style. Check your course handbook or speak to your instructor about the referencing style required in your area of study.
