Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015

Standard 1.4, 1.8, 2.2, 3.1, 8.4

National Code 2018

Standard 8.4, 8.8

Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism

1.0 Purpose

1.1. The purpose of this policy and procedure is to maintain academic standards that require the award of student grades where the student demonstrates the work submitted for assessment or their participation is in accordance with the guidelines set down for assessments.

1.2. The policy and procedure further provides guidance to the trainers to assist them to minimise academic misconduct and manage it in a consistent and equitable manner and to manage academic misconduct appropriately for the protection of the institute’s reputation and standards for current and future students.

Accommodate student needs in extraordinary circumstances:

Lockdown - refer to Covoid-19 Policy and Procedures

2.0 Scope

2.1 This policy applies to all ANIBT students and staff involved in the assessment of tasks.

3.0 Responsibility

3.1 The CEO, the Training and Academic Development Manager, trainers and Administration officers are responsible for the implementation requirements of this procedure and to ensure that staff are aware of its application and implement its requirements.

4.0 Definitions:

4.1 Academic Misconduct is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. (In our policy Academic Misconduct refers to plagiarism [intentional or unintentional], collusion and cheating)

4.2 Plagiarism “To take and use as one’s own thoughts, writings or inventions of another” (Oxford English). Plagiarism therefore has two elements:

taking another’s work; and

using the work as your own.

If you take another’s work but do not use it as your own – because you reference it correctly – it is not plagiarism.

4.3 Intentional Plagiarism: involves the deliberate act of presenting someone else’s work/ideas as if you wrote it yourself.

Examples of intentional plagiarism include:

Copying problem answers from a classmate.

Copying any assignments from a student in a previous year.

4.4 Unintentional plagiarism: Students often do not recognise unintentional plagiarism as plagiarism (Carroll, 2002). However, it is taking another’s work and using as your own – because there is no acknowledgement of who has done the work. Unintentional plagiarism usually occurs because of a lack of understanding about what plagiarism is; and poor referencing, citing and quoting skills.

Examples of unintentional plagiarism include:

failing to indicate that some text is a direct quote (quotation marks should be used);

paraphrasing a chapter and including the source in the reference list, but not acknowledging the source in the text;

Composing a paragraph by joining sentences from a number of sources together and not acknowledging the sources in the text.

4.5 Collusion means a secret agreement between two or more parties for a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose.

4.6 Cheating means wilfully and deliberately using or gaining an unfair advantage over fellow students by flouting the rules and guidelines set down for assessments.

5.0. Policy Principles:

5.1. The aim of this policy is to:

Explain the types of activities deemed to be an academic misconduct.

Outline the procedures to deal with academic misconduct.

Provide a method for recording and monitoring incidents of academic misconduct.

6.0. Policy Contents:

6.1 ANIBT commits to maintain high educational standards. Academic Misconduct will not be accepted in any form and students caught in this act will be dealt seriously by the institute.

6.2 Students will be informed of the institute’s Academic Misconduct policy during the induction.

6.3 Staff must abide by the approved definitions of Academic Misconduct.

6.4 It is the duty of all Staff and the students to understand the institute’s Academic Misconduct Policy. It is the trainer’s responsibility to ensure that adequate steps are taken to provide information to the students about the policy and also to ensure that the students adhere to the procedures covering Academic Misconduct. Trainers must inform students that the use of the words and/ or ideas of another person, without the proper recognition, is plagiarism, and will not be tolerated by the Institute.

6.5 Trainers will monitor the work submitted by the students to detect any occurrence of Academic Misconduct

6.6 Students who have engaged in Academic Misconduct will be given an opportunity to explain their behavior to the Training and Academic Development Manager, The Training and Academic Development Manager, will attempt to ascertain if any plagiarism was intentional or unintentional.

6.7 Academic penalties may apply whether or not the Academic Misconduct was intentional. However, the Institute would only suspend a student in exceptional circumstances if the Academic Misconduct was unintentional. An example may be if the student has a history of Academic Misconduct.

6.8 Academic Misconduct is regarded as student misbehavior for the purposes of the Deferral of commencement, Suspension of studies and Cancellation of enrolment Policy.

7.0 Procedure Contents

7.1 When an allegation of academic misconduct is made against a student by a trainer or other source, the Training and Academic Development Manager, will assess the allegation and take action within 10 working days.

7.2 The Training and Academic Development Manager or the Student Services Coordinator  will within 10 working days:

notify student of the allegation and request a response from the student in writing

meet with the student (in person or via email) and

Investigate the allegations.

7.3 Where Academic Misconduct has occurred, the disciplinary penalties for academic misconduct include:

1. A warning
2. The awarding of a “not yet satisfactory” grade for an assessment
3. a charge of $50.00 fine and repeating of the assessment
4. Suspension from the Course
5. Cancellation of Enrolment.

7.4 Where Academic Misconduct has occurred, and a disciplinary penalty has been imposed, a record of that penalty will be added to the student's file. The student will be given the opportunity to add a comment to the record and will be asked to sign it. A copy of the record will also be given to the student.

7.5 If the institute intends to suspend or cancel the enrolment of a student for Academic Misconduct, the policy and procedures, as outlined in the Deferral of commencement, Suspension of studies and Cancellation of enrolment Policy apply.