TEQSA commences legal proceedings against Chegg

Australia’s Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Chegg Inc (Chegg).

TEQSA alleges that Chegg has contravened Australian laws designed to prohibit academic cheating. These laws were introduced in 2020 following an amendment to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (TEQSA Act).

Subsection 114A(3) of the TEQSA Act prohibits providing, offering to provide, or arranging for a third party to provide, an academic cheating service to a higher education student.

TEQSA alleges that Chegg contravened this provision on 5 occasions across 2021 and 2022. TEQSA is seeking declarations about the alleged contraventions, civil penalties, costs and other orders.

As Australia’s independent national regulatory and quality assurance agency for higher education, TEQSA takes seriously its role to protect the integrity, quality and reputation of higher education in this country.

TEQSA has taken this action after receiving concerns from multiple institutions about Chegg’s operations in Australia and engaging with US-based Chegg in an attempt to resolve those concerns.

This is the first time TEQSA has initiated proceedings for alleged contraventions of Australia’s academic cheating laws.

This legal action is another element of TEQSA’s extensive and ongoing work to strengthen the ability of Australian higher education providers to protect academic integrity from the threats posed by academic cheating services and artificial intelligence.

Since 2020, when the academic cheating provisions were enacted, TEQSA has:

  • disrupted access to almost 370 websites and 925 social media accounts offering academic cheating services to higher education students at Australian providers
  • collaborated with leading experts to develop a range of resources to strengthen the higher education sector’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to cases of academic cheating. One of these resources is the TEQSA Masterclass: Contract cheating detection and deterrence which has been accessed by more than 3,500 academics and professional staff from Australian higher education providers
  • developed resources to help students identify and avoid predatory cheating services, and understand Australia’s legislation and expectations relating to academic integrity, including materials in languages other than English
  • continued to build on our existing range of toolkits and good practice notes which are available on the TEQSA website. 

Importantly, TEQSA also continues to engage deeply with Australian higher education providers to support efforts to mitigate the risks posed by generative artificial intelligence. In June 2024, TEQSA issued an information request to all registered Australian higher education providers asking for institutional action plans addressing the risk generative artificial intelligence poses to assessment integrity. In November, we will launch the first resource informed by this information request, a toolkit showcasing the practical actions providers are putting in place for the short and medium-term horizons.

Quotes attributable to TEQSA Acting Chief Commissioner Ms Adrienne Nieuwenhuis

“Where TEQSA finds academic cheating services being advertised or offered to students, we will take appropriate action to protect the integrity and reputation of Australia’s higher education sector.”

“TEQSA welcomes reports from students, providers, academic staff and the wider public about suspected cheating services via our website at teqsa.gov.au.”

 

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