At UOW we understand that academic integrity is not just an issue that impacts students. We recognise that it is fundamental to the work of the whole academic community, including students, teachers, researchers, coordinators and administrators.
The Australian context
The UOW approach to academic integrity aligns with the Australian Higher Education Standards Framework (TEQSA 2015), which makes four broad requirements of higher education institutions around academic integrity.
According to TEQSA, which is the national regulatory body for Australian higher education institutions, we are required to:
- have policies that promote and uphold academic and research integrity and policies and procedures which address allegations of misconduct.
- take action to mitigate foreseeable risks to academic and research integrity.
- provide students and staff with guidance and training on what constitutes academic or research misconduct and the development of good practices in maintaining academic and research integrity.
- ensure that academic and research integrity are maintained in arrangements with any other party involved in the provision of higher education.
The UOW policy principles
The following eight principles underpin UOW's Academic Integrity Policy (Section 4)
- Academic integrity is fundamental to learning, teaching and research at the University.
- Academic integrity involves the ongoing fostering of a complex network of strategies and responsibilities across the University community.
- The University is committed to providing an educational approach to academic integrity recognising that students need to be supported to develop and demonstrate academic skills.
- Academic integrity allows students and staff the freedom to build new ideas, knowledge and creative works while respecting and acknowledging the work of others.
- The University will respond to academic misconduct in a fair, consistent, transparent and timely manner.
- The University will ensure that records of investigations and outcomes are kept secure and confidential, in accordance with the Privacy Policy and Records Management Policy.
- The University will ensure a continuous cycle of quality improvement to monitor the occurrence and nature of instances of academic misconduct and take action to address underlying causes.
- The University will take steps to ensure that academic integrity is maintained in arrangements with any collaborative partner.
You can see from this list of principles that UOW is keen to balance an educational approach to support our students learning about academic integrity with a robust and consistent response to any instances of academic misconduct.