Core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy in Australian higher education

Abstract

This paper reports on one important aspect of the preliminary findings from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project, Academic integrity standards: Aligning policy and practice in Australian universities (Bretag et al., 2010) Our project aims to identify approaches to the complex issues of academic integrity, and then to build on these approaches to develop exemplars for adaptation across the higher education sector. Based on analysis of publicly available online academic integrity policies at each of the 39 Australian universities, we have identified five core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy. These have been grouped under the headings, Access, Approach, Responsibility, Detail and Support, with no element given priority over another. In this paper we compare the five core elements identified in our research with best practice guidelines recommended by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in the UK. We conclude that an exemplar policy needs to provide an upfront, consistent message, reiterated throughout the entire policy, which indicates a systemic and sustained commitment to the values of academic integrity and the practices that ensure it. Whereas the HEA created two discrete resources, the key aim and challenge of this project will be to develop exemplars that demonstrate a strong alignment between policy and practice.

Teaching research integrity in higher education: policy and strategy

“…Macfarlane et al (2014) suggest that, according to the post-modern conception, it is inappropriate or not feasible to establish a set of universally legitimate norms for academic integrity and, therefore, rather than identifying a moral compass, focus should be on ethical shortcomings. However, in a project completed by a team of Australasian researchers in 2011, several exemplary elements to academic integrity policies were identified to assist in the development of a toolkit for evaluating policies (Bretag et al, 2011). One key element identified is an "approach" or "a clear statement of purpose and values with a coherent institutional commitment to academic integrity through all aspects of the policy" (Bretag et al, 2011).…”

“…However, in a project completed by a team of Australasian researchers in 2011, several exemplary elements to academic integrity policies were identified to assist in the development of a toolkit for evaluating policies (Bretag et al, 2011). One key element identified is an "approach" or "a clear statement of purpose and values with a coherent institutional commitment to academic integrity through all aspects of the policy" (Bretag et al, 2011). For these authors, best practice in the development of policies explicitly recognizes the importance of the purpose and values to be acknowledged and embedded into policy.…”

Using a Student Authentication and Authorship Checking System as a Catalyst for Developing an Academic Integrity Culture: a Bulgarian Case Study

“…A literature has grown up over the last ten years looking at approaches for developing academic integrity. Approaches that have been explored include those related to policy (Bretag et al 2011), teaching and learning approaches (E.J. Morris 2016), restorative justice (Kara and MacAlister 2010) and the use of technology (Okada et al 2019b).…”

An Overview of Theories Explaining Plagiaristic Behavior of Students

“…Even though the common university approach to plagiarism includes providing students with academic integrity policies targeting behavioral changes through information, actions, and retributions, there is a developing urge among the academics to uphold an all-encompassing outlook combining policies, enforcement, information delivering and imparting learning techniques to approach the gravity and intricate nature of the phenomenon (Bretag et al, 2011). Bretag (2013, p.5) in the article "Challenges in addressing plagiarism in Education" emphasizes that educational institutions should nurture the outlook to believe handling plagiarism as a "holistic and multi-stakeholder approach" targeting to develop an academic community on the basis of collective knowledge and observance of ethics and academic integrity.…”