Supporting International of Day of Action Against Contract Cheating

To mark the 7th International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating, TEQSA has launched a new checklist for higher education providers.

The checklist sets out 10 steps providers can follow to strengthen academic integrity within their institution and complements other TEQSA resources that support providers and students to combat the integrity risk posed by commercial academic cheating, also known as contract cheating.

Earlier this week, TEQSA helped to launch the Global Academic Integrity Network (GAIN). This new group brings together quality assurance and regulatory bodies from around the work to share information and best practice to help uphold academic integrity.

Australia’s leadership in efforts to combat the integrity risk posed by commercial academic cheating services was noted by other GAIN members, and Australia’s approach is seen as a model for others to emulate.

TEQSA Chief Commissioner Professor Peter Coaldrake AO said TEQSA’s work to reduce the integrity risk posed by commercial academic cheating services was guided by the themes of education, detection and enforcement.

“Cheating is never the right answer and we’re working in partnership with higher education institutions, students, academics and like-minded organisations globally to combat this growing threat,” Professor Coaldrake said.

“We’ve made available this new 10-step checklist to help institutions better prevent and detect cheating and to enforce their academic integrity and student misconduct policies.

“This reflects our approach – we’re working with the sector to educate students and staff to stop cheating from occurring, to better detect where cheating is happening and to enforce institutional policies and Australia’s anti-cheating laws.”

TEQSA has gathered information about 2330 cheating websites and shared this information with the sector.

Of these websites, about 580 have been found to target students at Australian institutions, and 152 have been blocked since July 2021. A further 697 social media accounts and posts on networks such as GumTree, Facebook and Instagram have also been removed.

The International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating is organised by the International Centre for Academic Integrity. TEQSA and Australian higher education institutions have regularly supported the day since it was started in 2015.

The new checklist, along with other academic integrity resources for providers, academics and students, can be accessed on our website.

Media enquiries

TEQSA Communications: comms@teqsa.gov.au, 0437 143 012