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A breach of academic integrity occurs when a student demonstrates behaviours that are inconsistent with the values of academic integrity while undertaking academic work for review or assessment. A breach of academic integrity may involve dishonesty, an intention to deceive or gain unfair advantage, or a careless disregard for expected standards and conduct in academic work.
Whether intentional or unintentional, all acts, omissions, schemes, or tactics that undermine the core values of academic integrity are considered a breach of academic integrity.
The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure outlines CQUniversity’s approach to upholding academic integrity and the processes for managing potential breaches.
More information on breach types, can be found on the Academic Integrity website.
If someone (Unit Coordinator, Educator or another party) identifies a concern with your assessment that might be a possible breach of academic integrity, here’s what happens next:
The university will investigate any potential breach of academic integrity. During this investigation you may be contacted by the Unit Coordinator or Educator to have an informal discussion about the assessment to assist with determining if a potential breach has occurred. While an investigation is happening, you may have temporary sanctions placed on your enrolment which restrict access to transcripts or places holding grades on your assessment/unit.
If you are in your first period of study, you may be issued an Inappropriate Academic Conduct (IAC) letter if it has been determined that the conduct was not intentional, and further education is required. If you’ve received an IAC, your assessment will be marked as per the marking rubric, but you may be requested to seek guidance from the Academic Learning Centre to ensure you understand where you need to improve your academic communication skills.
If you do not meet the requirements to be issued an IAC, an Invitation to Respond (ITR) will be sent to your CQU student email address. An ITR will outline the allegation, including evidence, and explain how to respond. You should prepare your written response and collate all evidence you’d like to include before submitting your Student Response Form as you can only make one submission. If you have issues or need to add more once you’ve submitted your initial response you can do so by emailing academicintegrity@cqu.edu.au.
While your case is being investigated, the University may apply temporary administrative restrictions to your enrolment. These may include temporary limits on accessing your transcript or pauses on releasing grades while the investigation is underway. These temporary measures support the integrity of the investigation and will be lifted once the case is finalised.
If you received an ITR, you have seven working days to provide a written response and all relevant evidence. If you have compassionate or compelling circumstances impacting you that mean you need more time to respond, you can request an extension of up to seven working days by contacting the Academic Integrity Unit. Your request must include supporting evidence.
Your Response Matters: Your explanation, evidence, and honesty can influence the outcome. You can also seek help from Student Advocacy Officers or the Academic Learning Centre to prepare your response. If you don’t respond, the case will still go ahead based on the available evidence.
If the assessment under investigation is a group assessment or potential collusion, each individual student will have the right to reply, a group response cannot be submitted for all students.
In most instances, the assigned Case Decision Maker will consider the case based on the evidence and your written response. However, a Case Decision Maker may request to have an interview with you if they feel it is necessary to gain further information for a case. If this is required, you’ll receive a follow up email to book a suitable time for this to occur.
After reviewing all evidence, the Case Decision Maker will determine the outcome and any penalties to be applied:
You can view the range of outcomes and penalties in the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure.
The University and its employees will respond to academic integrity breaches in a confidential, procedurally fair, equitable, transparent, and timely manner.
You have the right/opportunity to:
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Once you have gathered all your evidence and written your explanations for the issues identified, it is time to process your response to the allegation. Your Invitation to Respond letter includes instructions and a link to submit your response and evidence. If you have issues with accessing the Student Response Form you should email the Academic Integrity Unit.
You should include any evidence that helps demonstrate how you completed your assessment and the steps you took in your work process. Useful types of evidence may include (but not limited to):
You can upload up to 15 attachments with your Student Response Form. If you need to provide more than this or need to add further information after submitting your initial response, you can email the Academic Integrity Unit.
If you do not respond within the allocated timeframe or withdraw from the unit prior to responding to the allegation, the outcome of the allegation will be determined on the supporting evidence as presented in the case and the Case Decision-Maker will allocate an outcome and/or penalty accordingly.
Your Unit Coordinator (UC) or Educator may contact you before an allegation is formally submitted, as an informal discussion can help clarify aspects of your assessment and assist in determining whether a potential breach has occurred.
Once the allegation has been submitted and the formal investigation process has begun, your case will be managed by the Academic Integrity Unit (AIU) and the assigned Case Decision Maker. At this stage, your UC or Educator may continue to clarify aspects of the assessment. However, once a case is referred to the Academic Integrity Unit, the process follows the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure, and the UC/Educator has no role in determining the outcome of the investigation.
You can still seek support from services such as Student Advocacy or the Academic Learning Centre if you need help preparing your response.
While your assessment is under investigation, your grade for the affected assessment or unit may be temporarily withheld. This means your result might not be released until the academic integrity process is complete. This is a standard administrative step that helps maintain the integrity of the investigation.
Once a Case Decision Maker has reviewed the evidence and finalised the outcome, your grade will be released or updated accordingly. If no breach is found, your grade will be processed as normal.
Yes, you can continue with your studies while an academic integrity investigation is underway. Your enrolment remains active, and you can keep attending classes, accessing Moodle, and working on your other assessment tasks as normal.
However, depending on your course structure, you should seek advice from the Student Service SPOT if the assessment under investigation is a prerequisite or co‑requisite for another unit, as the temporary withholding of a grade may affect your progression. This ensures you understand any potential impacts and can plan your study pathway accordingly.
Due to the varied nature of academic integrity breaches, the University cannot provide a specific timeframe for the investigation or outcome.
Each case is reviewed individually and as efficiently as possible to ensure a fair and accurate result. Once a case is referred to the Academic Integrity Unit, it is managed independently of your UC/Educator, following the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure.
The Academic Integrity Unit will contact you as soon as they are able, which in some instances may not be until after grade release or the end of term. Please continue to monitor your CQU student email for updates.
CQUniversity acknowledges Traditional Owners and Custodians and pays respect to the Elders of all First Nations peoples of Australia.CQUniversity Australia is a trading name of Central Queensland University
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RTO Code: 40939
CRICOS: 00219C
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