Academic Misconduct Policy OP121 V3.1 2025.06

In accordance with the VET Quality Framework, STC/GBAT will ensure all students, staff and trainers understand STC/ GBAT do not condone cheating or plagiarism. This applies to all students who study with STC/GBAT.

Definitions
Plagiarism has been defined as “the copying of sections of any published work without acknowledging the source”.

Cheating is defined as:

  • Handing in someone else’s work as your own (with or without the original author’s knowledge)
  • Allowing someone to hand up your work as his or her own
  • Several people writing an assignment and handing up multiple copies, all represented (implicitly or explicitly) as individual work; or
  • Using any part of someone else’s work without proper acknowledgement.
  • Copying or referring to another student’s work during assessment conditions or when individual work is required

Academic misconduct means:
Presentation of data with respect to all student’s work/ assessments that has been copied, falsified or in other ways obtained improperly. This includes;

  • Including of material in individual work that has involved significant assistance from another person, where such assistance is not expressly permitted in the relevant Training Plan or Assessment instructions to students;
  • Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) outside of the accepted use stipulated in you course assessment information – refer to your Student Handbook and Course Instructions for information
  • Providing assistance to a student in the presentation of individual work, where such assistance is not expressly permitted in the relevant Training Plan or Assessment instructions to students;
  • Falsifying or misrepresenting academic records;
  • Plagiarism and cheating as defined above; other actions not covered by the above clauses that may be judged to be acts of academic misconduct.
Procedure:

 

  1. Investigation

 

  • All instances of alleged academic misconduct will be referred to the Training Manager or CEO for Students will be invited to discuss an allegation of academic misconduct or plagiarism at a meeting of relevant parties. Students will be allowed to have a support person present at the meeting.

 

  • Based on the evidence provided, the Training Manager or delegate will provide recommendations to the CEO.

 

  • Where a Trainer believes that the action of a student may involve academic misconduct, the Training Manager or delegate will notify the student within 5 working days and request that the student attend a meeting with the trainer and Training Manager or a delegate to discuss the matter. The meeting should occur within 14 days of the initial notification. Where the student is unable to attend the meeting, the discussion may occur via email or

 

  1. Possible Outcomes

 

  1. If a student chooses not to participate, the Training Manager or delegate will immediately advise the CEO, who will then determine an action
  2. Where the student does participate in the discussion, the student and the Training Manager or a delegate may elect to invite a nominee, or any staff member or student nominee, to be present at this meeting, or to participate in a email/ teleconference discussion
  3. If, because of this discussion, the Training Manager or delegate concludes that no academic misconduct was involved, no further action will be taken, and no record of the discussion will be placed in the student’s file.
  4. If, as a result of this discussion, the Training Manager or a delegate concludes that the action of the student was an example of inadvertent academic misconduct, the student will be counselled by the Training Manager or a delegate and will be permitted to resubmit the piece of assessment. The Training Manager or a delegate will place a note to that effect in the student’s file.
  5. If, as a result of this discussion, the Training Manager or delegate concludes that the action of the student constitutes deliberate academic misconduct, the Training Manager may determine the appropriate penalty, which may be:
    • Failure, with a zero score, in the component of the course, a note in the student’s file, and a reprimand from the CEO
    • Failure in the course and suspension from the course for a period not exceeding one year
    • Cancellation of enrolment with STC
    • Suspension from STC for a period not exceeding three years
  6.  The Training Manager or delegate will prepare a written statement setting out the findings on the facts, referring to the evidence or other material on which the findings were based. This statement will indicate any penalty to be applied and will be forwarded to the CEO.
  7. The Training Manager or delegate will, within 10 working days, provide a copy of the report to the student and the CEO, and a copy of the report will be added to the student’s record.

 

 

  1. Right to Appeal

 The student has the right to appeal against the decision and may appeal in writing to the CEO as per the Complaints and Appeals Policy and Procedure.