ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT:

STUDENT FACT SHEET

RESPONDING TO AN
ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
ALLEGATION

What is academic integrity and academic misconduct?

How do I respond to an allegation of academic misconduct?
What are my rights?
How do I find out more about academic misconduct penalties?
What support is available to me?

Disclaimer: this information is a guide only and is not designed to replace or overrule any CQUniversity policies or
procedures published on CQUniversity’s policy website at https://www.cqu.edu.au/policy. V 21062023
 If you receive an email containing an
‘Invitation to Respond to an Alleged Breach of Academic Integrity’
PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE IT

What is Academic Integrity?

Academic integrity means acting with the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and
responsibility within education, training, and research at CQUniversity. These values are
fundamental to protecting the quality of student learning, the credibility and trustworthiness of
student assessment and student qualifications, and ultimately the reputation of CQUniversity
courses and graduates.

What is a Breach of Academic Integrity?

A breach of academic integrity occurs when students demonstrate 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 (honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility) of academic
integrity are a breach of academic integrity.
If substantiated, breaches of academic integrity will incur educative outcomes and/or penalties.
Breaches of academic integrity are organised into five levels across two breach types, i.e.,
inappropriate academic conduct and academic misconduct. Further information about
breach types is available within the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure.

What is Academic Misconduct?

Academic misconduct is a type of academic integrity breach involving any action or attempted
action that is academically dishonest or misrepresents academic achievement and may result in
an unfair academic advantage to a student or other members of the University community.
Student academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion,
cheating, file sharing, and contract cheating. Definitions are available in the Student Academic
Integrity Policy and Procedure.

What happens if I have been reported as having a case of alleged academic

misconduct?
The Academic Integrity Unit will send an Invitation to Respond to the alleged breach of academic
misconduct to your CQUniversity email account. This email will contain information relating to the
alleged incident, including evidence in relation to the case.

What are my rights?

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 to:
• be advised of and know the details of any allegation

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 • have the opportunity to present your case and be given a fair hearing
• be treated without bias
• have a decision made on an objective and unbiased assessment of the evidence
• seek assistance from a Student Advocacy Officer when formulating your response
• challenge an outcome decision by lodging an appeal to the University’s Academic Appeals
Committee, and
• seek assistance from a Student Advocacy Officer when making an application to appeal.
Contact details for Student Advocacy, and other support services, are provided in your Invitation
to Respond notification, and at the end of this document.

What do I do if I receive an ‘Invitation to Respond’ to an allegation of academic

misconduct?
You will need to read the information contained in the email and attachments thoroughly.
• If you do not understand what is written in the communication, contact your Unit
Coordinator or educator for clarification.
• If you still do not understand what you need to do, contact a Student Advocacy Officer to
help clarify the content of the allegation.
• You have seven working days 1 to respond to the allegation with a written explanation and
your own evidence.
• Your response to the allegation will have an impact on the outcome.
If you have circumstances which prevent you responding to the allegation within the allocated
timeframe, you may request an extension of time to submit your response. An extension request
must include details of what is impacting your ability to respond within the timeframe, and any
supporting evidence you have must be attached. Extension requests must be emailed to
academicintegrity@cqu.edu.au. The request will be considered, and you will be advised if an
extension is permitted.

What do I include in a response to an allegation?

How you respond will depend on whether you agree with the allegation or not, but here are some
things we recommend you include in your response:
• Explain in your response whether this is a new skill for you and any difficulties you may
have had understanding the requirements of academic assessment.
• Address the evidence presented in the allegation and provide an explanation for the
issues discovered in the investigation.
• Demonstrate that the assessment submission is your own work by providing supporting
documentation that shows you are the only author of the assessment and that all work
submitted is your own (see next section).
• You may wish to express regret and a willingness to learn and improve your skills by
attending Academic Learning Centre (ALC) workshops and meeting with ALC staff for
feedback on your writing and referencing.

1 Working days includes weekdays from Monday to Friday, excluding Australian public holidays.

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What if I’ve been accused of not being the sole author of my assessment?
Contract cheating is one of the most severe breaches of academic integrity and will often result in
heavy penalties. Contract cheating covers a wide range of cheating behaviour as defined in the
Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure.
Your response to an allegation of this nature, involving evidence of suspicious authorship might
include:
• All previous drafts of your assessment to show a progression of the work you have been
completing, including the date and time stamps of the document creation and editing.
• Emails and messages showing any times you may have shared the work with yourself or
another person for feedback if you have not saved the document on your computer.
• If your document was constructed on Google docs (or similar) you may wish to provide
access to the document online for review.
• Screenshots of your internet search history accessing the sources in your reference list to
demonstrate that you were researching the topic and submission during the time the
assessment was written.
• Explanations and any available evidence for any unusual metadata or document
properties identified in your submission e.g.:
 What is the editing time?
 Who is the author?
 Who was the last modifier?
 When was the work started and finished?
 What is the company name?
 Why is the document written in a non-Australian English language setting?
 Why was the document constructed using a different Application to your normal
setting?
• An explanation for any irregularities in your work that have been identified by the
investigation.

How do I submit my response to the allegations?

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 response is to be submitted online
using the link to the Student Response Form available in your ‘Invitation to Respond’ letter.

What happens if I don’t respond?

If you do not respond within the allocated timeframe, 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.

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What are the penalties for Breaching Academic Integrity?
Once the Case Decision-Maker reviews all the evidence and your response (if any), they may
determine that a breach of academic integrity has occurred and record one of the following
outcomes, depending on the severity:
• inappropriate academic conduct (level 1 breach of academic integrity)
• minor academic misconduct (level 2 breach of academic integrity)
• moderate academic misconduct (level 3 breach of academic integrity)
• substantial academic misconduct (level 4 breach of academic integrity), or
• serious academic misconduct (level 5 breach of academic integrity).
Penalties imposed can range from receiving a formal written warning to expulsion from the
University. More details regarding the range of penalties can be found in the Student Academic
Integrity Policy and Procedure.

Summary of Timelines and Process Flows

It is important that you are aware of the timelines associated with academic integrity breach
processes, as follows (also available within the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure):
• Respond to Invitation to Respond to Alleged Breach of Academic Integrity notification
within seven working days 2 of date of notification.
• Receive written notification of your case outcome from CQUniversity within approximately
25 working days of your response being received by CQUniversity (please note that case
investigations will proceed whether you respond or not).
• Challenge case outcome by lodging an appeal within 20 working days of the date of the
case outcome notification (see Academic Appeals Policy and Procedure).

What Support is Available?

If you need advice or guidance to respond to an allegation or to understand the alleged breach or
the process, you can make a free and confidential appointment with a Student Advocacy
Officer. Contact details and information about the service are available on the Student Advocacy
website.
If you feel distressed and need mental health support, you are welcome to contact CQUniversity’s
free and confidential counselling service. Contact details are available below or via the
Counselling website.
Counselling and Wellbeing via phone 07 4930 9456, or email counselling@cqu.edu.au
(open between the hours of 8:30am – 4:00pm (AEST) Monday to Friday excluding public
holidays).
CQUniversity’s Out of Hours Student Support Line via phone 1300 226 987 or text
0480 097 747 (outside business hours, including weekends and public holidays).
The Academic Learning Centre (ALC) provides support, assistance, and resources to
students seeking to improve their academic literacy skills. They can be contacted via their
website, or via email to alc-advice@cqu.edu.au.

2 Working days includes weekdays from Monday to Friday, excluding Australian public holidays.

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