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All staff are required to report any breaches of student conduct. Prior to any meeting or hearing, a student must be advised in writing that there is an allegation against them that is being investigated. The student then has the right to provide a written response prior to any meeting or hearing. This ensures a fair and transparent process.
Guidance on how to manage alleged misconduct:
All student conduct breaches are lodged via the Dixon web form. When lodging a case, you must select the category (academic integrity warning, student charter warning, academic misconduct, academic record fraud or general misconduct) that most appropriately aligns with the allegation. If the allegation fits in multiple categories and you are unsure how to progress, please contact the Office of the Academic Registrar, sco@curtin.edu.au for clarification.
Poor academic practice is academic misconduct that is not dishonest because the advantage gained is only moderate. Examples of poor academic practice are inadequate paraphrasing or incorrect referencing.
The authorised officer is responsible for the initial review of a report of suspected misconduct and determining if there are sufficient grounds to further investigate. If there are insufficient grounds to further investigate one of two things can happen.
If there are sufficient grounds to believe that the student may have engaged in poor academic practice, they will be notified of the allegation, proposed determination, and penalty. If the student chooses to respond in writing, they have seven days to do so.
The student notification will include links to accept the determination and finalise the case or to submit a response.
The authorised officer is responsible for the determination and will make it based on the “balance of probabilities”. This means that for a determination of poor academic practice, it must be more likely than not that poor academic practice occurred.
The case will only be finalised after the student has had the opportunity to respond. All documentation will be reviewed before making a final determination and when deciding on any appropriate penalties. Where there is a finding of poor academic practice, the authorised officer is also responsible for ensuring the application of any appropriate penalties.
Whether or not a student chooses to respond, the determination and penalty will be finalised no later than five (5) days after the deadline has passed.
Students will be notified in writing of the authorised officer’s decision and their appeal rights. If it is determined that misconduct did not occur, no further action will be taken.
Educative actions and penalties
Following the completion of the poor academic practice process, the student is responsible for completing any educative actions and/or penalties by the deadline. Failure to complete any requirement(s) by the deadline may result in a sanction on their enrolment, which will prevent results release and enrolment in further units. Once they have provided proof of completion as per the instructions contained in the determination letter, the sanction should be removed within two business days.
Students have the right of appeal against a determination of poor academic practice, the penalty that has been applied, or both. A student may only appeal based on a “question of law”.
What is a “question of law”?
This is about an error in the application of the process. In other words, was the process followed correctly? Examples include:
Students have seven days from receiving the final poor academic practice determination and penalty notification to submit an appeal. If they take no action, the appeal timeframe will expire after the seven-day period and the case will be finalised. If a student waives their right of appeal, the case will be finalised immediately.
If a student decides to appeal, they will be required identify the question(s) of law that forms the basis of their appeal and provide appropriate documentation. If their appeal meets the threshold grounds, it will be heard by either the relevant Faculty Pro Vice-Chancellor or Provost unless the Academic Registrar refers the appeal to a Student Discipline Appeals Board. Students will be given the opportunity to appear at an appeal hearing and, to ensure that they are afforded a fair appeal hearing, all case documentation will be reviewed to gain an understanding as to the facts of the case. If a student submits an appeal that does not meet the threshold grounds, then the appeal will not progress.
The outcome of an appeal means that the original determination and/or penalty can be:
Upheld: this means that the original determination and/or penalty by the authorised officer will stand.
Varied: this means that the party hearing the appeal can vary the original determination and/or penalty. The severity of the penalty may be increased or decreased.
Set aside: this means that the party who is hearing the appeal can dismiss the determination and penalty.
Students will be notified of the outcome in writing and this decision is final.
While the internal process is now complete, if a student is not satisfied that it has been conducted fairly, they can make a complaint to the Ombudsman Western Australia.
There are similarities in the process because Poor Academic Practice is still considered academic misconduct and is covered by the Academic Misconduct Rules.
However, the notification to the student will include details of the allegation as well as the proposed determination and penalty. The student is only able to respond in writing to the allegation (not orally) and the determination and any penalty are decided by the Authorised Officer, not a Student Discipline Panel.
The available penalties are less severe than other categories of Academic Misconduct. Additionally, the student only has seven (7) days to appeal a determination or penalty for Poor Academic Practice.
The Poor Academic Practice process is accelerated because:
An allegation might be considered poor academic practice if the student has just commenced their degree or if they have not had appropriate instruction in academic integrity practices.
If a student has a previous finding of academic misconduct against them, has completed any additional academic integrity instruction, or has already undertaken some study, it is most likely that an allegation would not be considered poor academic practice.
For a determination of poor academic practice, a student may be given:
All student conduct breaches must be reported via the Dixon online web form.
Upon receiving a report of possible misconduct, the authorised officer will review the report and determine if there are sufficient grounds to proceed in an inquiry (investigation).
If an inquiry is the recommended action, this must be undertaken by either the authorised officer or an inquiry officer appointed by the authorised officer. Authorised staff investigating a matter must ensure that the inquiry process is open and transparent and that general principles are observed.
A determination, in the context of misconduct, refers to making a decision as to whether or not misconduct has occurred. Upon receiving the completed inquiry officer report the student discipline panel must review all information and make a determination as to whether or not misconduct has occurred.If it is determined that misconduct has occurred, the student discipline panel will determine which category 1 and/or category 2 penalties will be applied.
Students have the right of appeal within 14 days of receiving the notification of the outcome from the student discipline panel. Students may appeal against a finding of misconduct and/or a penalty imposed for an instance of misconduct. Students must be given the right of appearance at an appeal hearing as well as the right to submit a written statement in regards to their appeal. If a party fails to attend an appeal hearing in a misconduct matter, the hearing may proceed and a decision made.
Yes. All staff are required to report any suspected misconduct. Prior to any meeting or hearing, a student must be advised in writing that there is an allegation against them that is being investigated. The student then has the right to provide a written response prior to any meeting or hearing. This ensures a fair and transparent process.
The allegation will be addressed to the student and be factual, specific and unbiased.
As the allegation is being sent directly to the student, it is important that it does not include:
For academic misconduct:
For academic record fraud:
For general misconduct:
All cases of alleged misconduct will be lodged via the Dixon web form. When lodging a case, you must select the category (academic misconduct, academic record fraud or general misconduct) that most appropriately aligns with the allegation. If the allegation fits in multiple categories and you are unsure how to progress, please contact the Office of the Academic Registrar, sco@curtin.edu.au for clarification.
Once a case of alleged misconduct has been reported it will be referred to an authorised officer. The authorised officer will make a determination (see below) and update Dixon:
While there is no further action in relation to the allegations, any processes (e.g. marking an assessment) that ceased whilst the allegation was reviewed, should re-commence.
An authorised officer will appoint an inquiry officer to conduct an inquiry into the matter. An inquiry officer can be any person, including the authorised officer. When the inquiry officer is appointed, this person will be sent an email via Dixon to commence the inquiry process.
The inquiry officer will:
You are responsible for undertaking the inquiry into the allegation and completing an inquiry officer’s report.
Templates for all communications and reports are built into Dixon and are provided as necessary.
You should review the details of the allegation and the relevant documentation. You will then need to provide the student with the allegation and the documentation by following the instructions in the communication from Dixon. Once students have been notified of the allegation against them, they have seven days to respond. If you find additional evidence after providing the initial documentation to the student you need to send this to them as well and provide the student an additional seven days to respond. When considering what documentation to include, focus on what is relevant. When the student has responded or the seven day deadline has lapsed, you are able to progress to the next stage.
You will need to decide whether you would like to conduct a misconduct hearing. If you choose not to conduct a misconduct hearing, you may commence the inquiry officer’s report.
The inquiry officer’s report will include:
The ‘balance of probabilities’ standard of proof means that any determination made as the result of an inquiry will have evidence that establishes that the likelihood of the misconduct having occurred is more probable than not.
No. This responsibility cannot be delegated. A “determination” is a decision made by a student discipline panel about whether or not misconduct occurred. The student discipline panel is also able to decide that there is not enough evidence to determine whether or not misconduct occurred.
Prior to making a determination, the student discipline panel will review all the relevant documentation and any recommendation made in the inquiry officer’s report. As part of their review, the student discipline panel will confirm that the student has had the opportunity to respond to all the evidence submitted. A determination will then be made on the occurrence of misconduct based on the relevant evidence as well as any student submission or mitigating circumstances.
The student discipline panel must act fairly and without bias and can determine one of the following:
The student discipline panel may also determine that a matter should be downgraded to an academic integrity warning.
If warranted, the student discipline panel can request the inquiry officer undertake additional investigations or provide further information before making their determination.
Written notification of the determination that misconduct has not occurred must be provided to the student. If the matter is in relation to an assessment task, marking will re-commence and no penalty will be applied.
If the relevant student discipline panel determines that the available information is insufficient to decide if misconduct occurred, they are able to:
If the student discipline panel determines that misconduct has occurred, the panel then makes a decision as to which category 1 and/or category 2 penalties will be applied. After the penalty has been applied, along with the case documents, a report containing the determination will be forwarded to the student. The accompanying information sheet will describe the reasons for the determination, their right to appeal the determination and/or the penalty/s.
The student and the Vice-Chancellor are provided written notification of the penalty details. Additionally, a staff member that may be directly involved in applying a penalty, such as a unit coordinator responsible for changing a grade is also advised, although actual case details are not disclosed.
Yes. Students have the right of appeal against a determination of misconduct, the penalty that has been applied, or both. Students will be notified in writing and provided 14 days to submit their appeal.
If a student chooses not to appeal, no action is taken until the 14 day appeal deadline has lapsed as the Vice-Chancellor also has a right to appeal.
If a student decides to appeal, they must be given the right to appear at an appeal hearing as well as the right to submit a written statement regarding their appeal.
The Vice-Chancellor may appeal against a determination of misconduct, a determination relating to the penalty imposed, or both. An appeal must be submitted in writing and any relevant documentation provided within a 14 day deadline.
An appeal must be heard by a party or parties who have not previously been involved in the process. These parties are either the Academic Registrar, Faculty Pro Vice-Chancellor or student discipline appeals board.
Members of the student discipline appeals board are:
There must be at least one male member and one female member on the student discipline appeals board.
The original determination and/or penalty can be:
