Academic Integrity
What Academic Integrity Means in Practice
At CQUniversity, academic integrity means acting with honesty and responsibility in your studies. As a student, it’s your responsibility to:
- Complete the Foundations of Academic Integrity (FAI) training – this mandatory training is designed to ensure that you understand CQUniversity’s academic integrity standards and how these are applied in completing your assessment tasks.
- Completing your own work – When you submit an assessment, you’re declaring that it’s your own work. This means the ideas, words, and effort are genuinely yours and show what you know and can do.
- Referencing correctly – always acknowledge the words, ideas, and work of others.
- Following assessment requirements – check the instructions carefully before you start.
- Using tools appropriately – including GenAI, use only when permitted and with proper acknowledgement.
- Asking when unsure – seek guidance from your Unit Coordinator or Vocational Teacher if you’re not sure about something.
By developing these habits, you strengthen your learning, protect the value of your degree, and prepare for ethical practice beyond university. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure outlines CQUniversty’s approach to upholding academic integrity.
Why it Matters Beyond Uni
Academic integrity is about building confidence in the skills and knowledge you’ve worked hard to achieve. When you approach your studies with honesty and responsibility, you’re not just earning grades — you’re developing the habits of trust, professionalism, and resilience that employers value.
By doing your own work and acknowledging others, you protect the value of your qualification, can graduate with confidence in your abilities, and carry forward a reputation of integrity that benefits you well beyond university.
Breach Types
Understanding what academic integrity looks like in practice also means being aware of the behaviours that can put it at risk. The following outlines the main types of breaches and how they are defined at CQUniversity.
Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s ideas, words, data, or creative work as your own, without giving appropriate credit to the original source.
Plagiarism could look like:
- Copying and pasting from a source without quotation marks or citation;
- Paraphrasing someone else’s work without proper acknowledgement;
- Failing to include full a citation for a referenced source;
- Mixing information from multiple sources and presenting them as your own ideas; or
- Including ideas or data from a source without giving credit.
Self-plagiarism is the unauthorised reuse of work that you have previously submitted or published, without prior approval or proper referencing.
Self-plagiarism could look like:
- Submitting the same assignment in a unit you’ve previously failed;
- Using all or part of a previously submitted assessment in another unit; or
- Using part of a previously submitted assessment and not referencing it.
Collusion is unauthorised collaboration between individuals or groups that results in the submission of work that is not solely the student/groups own.
Collusion could look like:
- Sharing answers or solutions;
- Jointly creating study notes to complete the same assessment;
- Working together on individual assignments;
- Providing your work to another student/group; or
- Using someone else’s previously submitted work.
Cheating is when you fail to comply with the requirements, conditions, or instructions set out for completing an assessment task (including in exams, tests, or supervised assessments).
Cheating could look like:
- Copying from another student;
- Using GenAI when it has not been permitted;
- Communicating with another person during an exam;
- Bringing or using unauthorised materials during a test or exam;
- Fabricating results or data, including experiments and interviews; or
- Misrepresenting citations or including sources that don’t exist.
Contract Cheating occurs when you outsource the production of assessable work to a third party and submit it as your own. Contract Cheating doesn’t always involve an exchange of money.
Contract cheating could look like:
- Asking a family member or friend to do your assignment;
- Paying a person or provider to write an assignment;
- Sharing your own work to gain access to someone else’s work;
- Getting someone else to participate in a learning activity or Work Integrated Learning placement.
Learning to use GenAI ethically is a valuable skill that will support your studies and future. Check your unit profile and assessment briefs for what’s allowed. If you’re ever unsure, contact your Unit Coordinator or Vocational Teacher.
Inappropriate use of GenAI could look like:
- Using GenAI when unit or assessment instruction indicate it is not allowed;
- Using GenAI when permitted but failing to cite or reference it correctly;
- Using AI-powered tools to re-write or “polish” your work so it no longer reflects your own ideas or style;
- Submitting content generated or heavily re-written by tools without checking for accuracy, proper citations, or whether the sources actually exist.
Frequently Asked Questions
Collaboration is when you appropriately work with others to share ideas, study, or prepare for learning. This is encouraged when it is allowed by your unit or assessment instructions.
Collusion happens when students work together in ways that are not permitted — such as sharing answers, co-writing individual assignments, or using someone else’s work.
In short: collaboration helps you learn, but collusion undermines your learning and can be a breach of academic integrity.
Reusing your own previous assignments (called self-plagiarism) is usually not allowed unless your Unit Coordinator has given permission. Even though it’s your work, each assessment is designed to test new learning. If you want to build on ideas you’ve already explored, you need to reference your earlier work or seek approval first. When in doubt — always ask before you reuse.
Generative AI can be a useful tool, but it isn’t always permitted. Each unit or assessment will give clear instructions about whether it may be used and how. If it is permitted, you must acknowledge it properly, just like any other source. If you’re unsure, check your unit outline or ask your Unit Coordinator.
If you’re ever unsure about the rules for an assessment, check your unit profile, assessment briefs, or talk to your Unit Coordinator or Vocational Teacher. When in doubt, asking questions shows responsibility, not weakness, and helps you avoid unintentional mistakes. The staff here at CQUniversity – whether academic or professional – are here to help guide you and find the information you need.
