Research shows that international students, particularly those whose first language is not English, need additional support when studying in Australia to learn and apply academic integrity rules and avoid academic misconduct. This brief guide contains tips and suggestions for creating academic integrity resources and awareness campaigns for international students. The guide also offers practical strategies and templates for developing effective academic integrity resources and awareness campaigns targeted at this group.

Key considerations for international student academic integrity campaigns

1. Use clear, simple English and provide translated versions in written formats.
2. Intervene early and repeatedly, make sure that messaging is delivered pre-enrolment, at enrolment, and subsequently.
3. Use multiple channels to meet students where they are, including orientation sessions, student accommodation, websites used by students, social media, on-campus locations such as international student offices/spaces, libraries, and other common areas.
4. Highlight available support to create engagement and assuage anxiety, normalise help-seeking.
5. Create a bespoke international student academic integrity information website for your institution.
6. Direct students to your international student academic integrity information website via a flyer/poster and/or online campaign.
7. Offer workshops and drop-in sessions on academic integrity for international students.

Example poster/flyer/website campaign

Use on-campus and/or online posters or flyers to catch students’ attention and direct them to bespoke international student academic integrity resources on your institution’s website. An annotated example is provided later in this guide.

Tips for posters

1. Use an attention-grabbing tagline/headline (see examples later) in a large bold font.
2. Translate the attention-grabbing headline into the most common languages spoken by students at your institution, making multiple versions if needed.
3. If using automatic translation tools, check the translation is correct by translating back to English, checking with a native speaker (staff or students), or checking with a language expert at your institution if your institution teaches languages other than English. Revise as necessary.
4. Link to further information on your institution’s website. For online campaigns use obvious clickable links or buttons, for paper-based posters or use a QR code for your link.

Example attention-grabbing

• Learn what cheating means in Australia
• In Australia, rules about cheating are strict, learn more
• Don’t get in trouble for cheating, learn the Australian rules
• Don’t get in trouble for cheating, learn the [INSERT INSTITUTION NAME] rules
• Learn what Australians mean by 'Academic Integrity'
• Know the rules: study smarter, not harder
• Avoid risky shortcuts: ask before you act
• Your success, your integrity: learn the rules today
• In Australia, “helping a friend” can sometimes be cheating, know the difference

Suggested content for international student academic integrity website

Generally speaking, most browsers will now translate website for users to their preferred languages. Because of this, unlike posters/flyers, it should not be necessary to translate an international-student academic-integrity webpage. However, it is worth checking the accuracy of any automatic translation with a bilingual staff member or student.

Authors: Professor Ruth Greenaway, Dr Zachery Quince, Dr Joanne Munn, Southern Cross University

Focus area: Assessment design

Generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) enables students to generate sophisticated academic outputs with minimal effort, challenging traditional assessment methods and raising concerns about academic integrity. Southern Cross University (SCU) has responded to this challenge by developing the Assessment Adaptation Model – Gen AI (AAM-Gen AI), a comprehensive, pedagogically grounded model designed to help educators adapt assessments to be resilient and meaningful in the gen AI era.

Gen AI tools have made traditional assessment vulnerable to misuse, necessitating systemic changes that move beyond reactive policies and detection-based approaches, advocating for proactive, authentic assessment designs that foster deep learning, critical thinking and ethical reasoning.

Authentic assessments, mirroring real-world complexities that require personal engagement, are less susceptible to gen AI misuse and promote transferable graduate skills. SCU’s AAM-Gen AI model arises from this context, aiming to align assessment design with both academic integrity and the evolving digital landscape.

The AAM-Gen AI model consists of seven interrelated components spanning the assessment lifecycle. It promotes a holistic, proactive approach that integrates gen AI considerations into every stage of assessment, encouraging transparent, ethical and capability-building practices rather than punitive measures.

• Design: 
  Craft assessment tasks that emphasise higher-order thinking, contextual relevance and personal engagement reducing gen AI misuse and enhance learning.
• Analyse: 
  Critically evaluate assessments using a security risk matrix to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities to gen AI exploitation.
• Act: 
  Implement strategic changes like multi-stage tasks using security rating scales to strengthen assessment integrity.
• Inform: 
  Clearly communicate gen AI usage policies to students to support fairness and ethical learning.
• Educate: 
  Develop students’ AI literacy and critical thinking to foster ethical and informed engagement with gen AI tools.
• Check: 
  Verify authenticity through nuanced, evidence-based approaches while promoting a culture of trust and accountability.
• Evaluate: 
  Continuously review and refine assessment practices to ensure alignment with learning goals and responsiveness to gen AI developments.

Key lessons or points for implementation

• Spend time considering current assessment and proactively redesign with gen AI in mind.
• A security risk matrix is a conversation starting point to reconsider assessment design, it is not a definitive measure of assessment security.

Assessment Adaptation Model-Gen AI (AAM-Gen AI)

Introduction

In 2020, TEQSA launched the first edition of our Academic Integrity Toolkit to share research and assist integrity professionals to promote academic integrity and address commercial academic cheating at their institution.

Academic integrity is integral to preserving the reputation of Australia’s higher education sector and protecting student interests.

TEQSA’s updated Academic Integrity Toolkit responds to new and emerging risks posed to academic integrity. In recent years, readily available and rapidly developing generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) tools have emerged. TEQSA has also observed changes in the promotion and marketing approaches used by commercial academic cheating services. The revised edition builds on the existing toolkit’s sections on policy and benchmarking and contract cheating. It offers new resources on assessment design and security, and risks to academic integrity from gen AI.

This initiative was funded by the Australian Government and the toolkit can be accessed free of charge.

The resources and case studies in this toolkit represent approaches and ideas which institutions have found useful in addressing academic integrity. They are not intended as guidance from TEQSA but are instead shared to encourage institutions to consider different approaches which may be useful in supporting academic integrity at their institution.

Introductory video

Sections

This section of the toolkit explores the detection of plagiarism in generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) derived text, approaches to assessment design in the age of gen AI, and ethical and effective approaches to integrate gen AI into the curriculum.

Why TEQSA collects data

TEQSA collects data on all higher education providers to help inform our risk-based approach to regulation. We use this information to minimise the reporting burden on providers associated with regulatory processes, such as a renewal of registration.

Data collection sources

We collect data on higher education providers’ operations from a variety of sources, including:

HELP IT System (HITS)

Tertiary Collection of Student Information (TCSI)

Quality Indications for Learning and Teaching (QILT)

Provider Information Request (PIR)

Providers who are not approved FEE-HELP providers report staff and student annually to TEQSA through TCSI. This is called the Provider Information Request (PIR).

The PIR is an information request under Section 28 of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (TEQSA Act).

Provider responsibilities

Providers should ensure their data is provided within required timeframes, is accurate and has been verified.
 

A condition of registration is that registered providers must give TEQSA an annual financial statement in the approved form, within 6 months after the end of the annual reporting period (Section 27 of TEQSA Act).
 

Failure to submit financial information within required timeframes is a breach of a condition of registration for which TEQSA may apply sanctions such as shortening the period of registration, cancelling registration (Section 98 of the TEQSA Act).
 

Providers should also ensure their contact details with TEQSA remain up to date.

Schedule

The deadline for submission dates for each data file is as follows:

Help and support

Scope and structure documents, element specifications and a range of support materials, including introductory training and frequently asked questions, are available on the TCSI website.

We encourage you to review the reporting requirement from TCSI website to ensure that submitted data is consistent with the required specifications. Please also read through the Data Verification website for comprehensive information and instructions that will assist you complete the student and staff verification process.

The TCSI Data Collections Team are the primary point of contact for the submission of data. Email: TCSIsupport@education.gov.au.

TEQSA’s Enquiries Management Team is also available to respond to administrative enquiries throughout the submission period. Email: providerenquiries@teqsa.gov.au.

If your institution has only recently registered as a higher education provider, we understand you may not be in a position to supply all of the required information. If this is case, please contact TEQSA’s Risk Team at risk@teqsa.gov.au.

This section of the toolkit explores assessment security and the risks associated with different forms of assessment. The section includes frameworks for academic integrity and assessment security, and showcases different ways of securing assessment to provide assurance that they are completed with integrity.

This section of the toolkit offers a range of different resources, including guidance on substantiating and detecting contract cheating, strategies to improve assessment design and deter file sharing, and practical ways to apply quality assurance principles and build strong frameworks to protect academic integrity.