TEQSA’s provider portal is unavailable.
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.
Second edition
This Good Practice Note is intended to complement the TEQSA Guidance note: Academic and research integrity.
The recommendations in this Good Practice Note correspond to the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021 and provide specific, practical advice to address contract cheating in relation to five critical areas:
This Good Practice Note provides Australian higher education providers with access to research and exemplars to enable the development of policies and processes to minimise contract cheating. This endeavour is part of a sector-wide agenda to safeguard academic integrity and is critical to protect students’ learning outcomes, institutional reputations, educational standards, professional practice and public safety.
Since TEQSA’s Academic integrity toolkit was first released in 2020, staff at Australian universities have developed world-leading approaches to systematically detecting contract cheating. As the nature and scale of contract cheating has become more apparent through both investigative work and research, approaches to detection and gathering of evidence required to substantiate concerns of contract cheating have changed significantly.
This guide is designed to help individuals and institutions understand the common roles and likely responsibilities of staff in relation to academic integrity. There are differing operational models across the sector, with some institutions preferring more or less centralised or decentralised academic integrity responsibilities. However, this resource should assist in identifying the role and associated actions you may undertake throughout the academic misconduct process at your institution. Similarly, terms used across the sector may differ, so you will need to consider which relates most closely to your role or is the equivalent term at your institution.
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.
This short course and accompanying situational judgment test (SJT) will build your baseline knowledge about academic integrity issues and techniques and practices for deterring and detecting contract cheating.
This section of the toolkit brings together a wide range of materials to support academic integrity from multiple perspectives. It provides guides, case studies and resources for educators and institutions seeking deeper insights and actionable strategies to strengthen integrity practices.
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.
22 April 2026
TEQSA’s provider portal is unavailable to use until further notice.
Earlier this month TEQSA became aware of potential cyber security vulnerabilities to the provider portal. While no data breach has occurred, TEQSA took immediate action by taking our provider portal offline as a precaution while investigations continue. Ensuring the security of providers' data is a high priority for TEQSA, and we want to be confident the safeguards and protections we have in place are of a high standard.
For the immediate future, TEQSA will use SIGBOX for document transfer where email is not available. SIGBOX is a secure, Australian-hosted tool, used by numerous Australian government agencies for file-sharing.
Details of process changes for providers, along with a SIGBOX user guide, are provided below.
We appreciate your patience, cooperation and understanding as we prioritise the security and integrity of provider information.
Where email is not available, secure alternate arrangements are in place:
A SIGBOX user guide is available for providers.
Is my data safe? Yes. TEQSA has taken this action as a precaution and in line with our commitment to safeguarding provider data. No data breach has occurred. Ensuring the protection of information is a high priority for TEQSA, and we want to be confident the controls we have in place are of the highest standard.
When will the Provider Portal be reinstated? The portal will be unavailable until further notice. SIGBOX is currently being used for file transfers, to support regulatory assessments, and TEQSA is working on additional solutions. We will provide more information as this work progresses.
How will the unavailability of the Provider Portal impact my submission deadlines? To ensure TEQSA’s regulatory assessment work continues, we are currently using SIGBOX for file transfers. SIGBOX is a secure Australian-based file-sharing site, used by several Australian government agencies. A user guide to SIGBOX is available.
TEQSA will work with providers to support the continuation of application and assessment processes. If you are concerned about the impact this unexpected closure may cause on an upcoming assessment, please contact the appropriate assessment team noted on the key provider contacts page of our website.
If you require further support, or have additional questions, please contact our Enquiries Management team at providerenquiries@teqsa.gov.au.
This section of the toolkit helps you evaluate and benchmark your policies and practices to support good learning, teaching and research.
Academic integrity toolkit
