Continuing efforts to combat academic cheating services
TEQSA Chief Commissioner Professor Peter Coaldrake AO has written to all Australian higher education providers, encouraging continued action to guard against the integrity risks posed by commercial academic cheating services.
Professor Coaldrake’s letter noted that while TEQSA’s Higher Education Integrity Unit was continuing to lead efforts to combat the risk posed by illegal cheating services, institutions also need to remain vigilant and ensure they have appropriate governance, policies and procedures in place.
Since 2021, TEQSA has successfully obtained Federal Court injunctions, investigated suspect websites, commenced intelligence-gathering and sharing with the sector and international partners, developed additional resources for academics, institutions and students and continued building relationships across Government to enable implementation of the anti-cheating legislation that came into effect in late 2020.
TEQSA has also built productive relationships with major social media platforms and online marketplaces, with platforms including Meta (owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), LinkedIn and Gumtree all taking action to remove pages and promotions for commercial academic cheating services. So far, TEQSA’s work with these companies has resulted in more than 300 posts being removed.