Academic Integrity involves undertaking academic activity in a manner which ensures that information and ideas are generated and communicated with honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.
Academic Integrity is core to learning, teaching and research at Avondale University. Avondale aims to embed a culture of personal, academic, and professional integrity throughout all areas of the University’s activities and will guide students towards the achievement of this goal.
All allegations of Academic Misconduct will be taken seriously and may lead to disciplinary action. All allegations will be dealt with fairly, consistently, transparently and in a timely manner and all investigations will be undertaken in a way which ensures procedural fairness.
A full list of the principles of academic integrity is available in Section 4 of the Academic Integrity Policy.
Additional resources are available from the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) website.
Avondale’s Academic Integrity Module (AIM) helps students develop knowledge and skills regarding good academic practice. Some of the principles covered include:
This online module is compulsory for new students and must be completed within the first two weeks of commencing their course. More information on AIM can be found in the Academic Misconduct Procedure: Notes for Students. The module is accessed via Avondale’s learning management system (Moodle).
Students have a responsibility to:
A full list of student responsibilities with respect to academic integrity is available in Section 5.5 of the Academic Integrity Policy.
Avondale promotes good academic practice and helps students avoid poor academic practice.
Some examples of poor academic practice may include:
Avondale provides a range of support services to help build and enhance good academic practice. More details on poor academic practices and possible consequences can be found in the Academic Misconduct Procedure: Notes for Students.
Continued poor academic practice may be considered academic misconduct.
Academic misconduct is any conduct whether undertaken intentionally or unintentionally that attempts or succeeds to obtain an unfair academic advantage for the student, or an unfair academic advantage or disadvantage for another student.
Types of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to:
There are two levels of academic misconduct each with differing degrees of consequences. Descriptions of each of these types and levels of misconduct are included in the Academic Misconduct Procedure: Notes for Students.
If students feel that they are at risk of academic misconduct, they can seek educative assistance from the academic support services available to them. You can also access the Academic Misconduct Policy and Procedure.
When submitting any assessment item, students are required to make a declaration of academic integrity as part of the submission process. Lecturers will provide guidance specific to each assessment.
It is a condition of enrolment at Avondale University that students accept their work may be monitored by staff using text-matching software. Currently Avondale uses Turnitin; its primary purpose is to evaluate and improve academic writing and referencing skills.
Avondale is guided by the academic integrity policy and the academic misconduct procedure when investigating and ruling on suspected breaches of academic integrity. The academic misconduct allegation process is detailed in the workflow diagram. Students can also refer to the Academic Misconduct Procedure: Notes for Students for further details on the process and penalties.
