Academic integrity

RMIT’s Academic Integrity Policy outlines the behaviours required in an academic community: acting with honesty, fairness, respect and responsibility.

Academic misconduct and consequences

There may be serious consequences for breaches of academic integrity, including the cancellation of results, suspension, or expulsion.

Breaches of academic integrity include:

• Plagiarism (presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own).
• Significant failure to appropriately and accurately acknowledge the work of others, which includes the use of Artificial Intelligence algorithms.
• Failure to appropriately and accurately acknowledge one’s own work where original work has been reused from previous assessment tasks (also known as self-plagiarism).
• ‘Washing’, or the use of software services to disguise plagiarism.
• Submitting the work of another person or from an online study platform as one’s own, or undertaking an assessment task for another person (contract cheating or ghostwriting). 
• Collusion or unauthorised collaboration in the preparation or presentation of work.
• Falsification, fabrication, manipulation or misrepresentation of data or results.
• Attempting to gain unfair advantage in an invigilated assessment; breaching the rules for the conduct of invigilated assessment in a manner that defeats or compromises the purposes of the task.
• Behaviour that violates assessment instructions thereby defeating or compromising the purpose of the assessment.
• Unauthorised sharing of course materials and previously submitted assessment items including via online study platforms.
• Misuse or unauthorised use of technology or equipment.

To find out more about these breaches and what they mean, complete the Academic Integrity Awareness digital credential.

RMIT policies

The following University policies provide more information about academic integrity and conduct, including official definitions and your student responsibilities.

• Academic Integrity Policy
• Assessment and Assessment Flexibility Policy
• Student Conduct Policy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and academic integrity

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are likely to be an integral part of future life and work. RMIT is committed to preparing our students to know how to engage and work appropriately with AI. 

You may be guided by your educators to use AI tools in your learning, so that you can better understand possibilities and limitations and how they may be used ethically and appropriately in your future work.  

The use of AI tools in your studies will be guided by your program and course requirements. Inappropriate use of AI in your learning and assessment could result in a breach of academic integrity. It is always best to check with your Program Manager or Program/Course Coordinators for more information.

RMIT may use tools to detect the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in assessments where AI tools are not permitted.

When is it okay to use AI tools in my studies?

1. You are permitted to use AI tools like ChatGPT, RMIT's Val, Microsoft's Copilot and Adobe Firefly as a study aid to supplement your learning. For example, you may ask questions of an AI tool to help clarify your reading interpretation or to help confirm your understanding of a topic, noting however that AI responses can be out of date, biased, not always correct, or not to be relied upon.
2. AI may or may not be permitted in coursework or assessments, depending on your course requirements. Check the information in the course guides and assessment task instructions to understand how AI tools can be used. If you are unsure or if it is not specified, ask your Program or Course Coordinator.
3. Any ideas or outputs generated by AI must be referenced accurately in your academic work, otherwise it is considered plagiarism. This means you must use citations crediting the tool/s where appropriate, as well as including it in your reference list – just like you would any other resource. See the Library's AI referencing guide for specific AI referencing information.
4. You should always think critically about any content provided to you, whether from an AI tool or other sources. It’s important to remember that you should always verify the content provided by AI tools. You are advised to conduct further research beyond simply asking questions of an AI tool, generating computer code, or creating images and consult with your course materials, library resources, or educator if you do not understand something or require further assistance.

How not to use AI

Using AI in the following ways is a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and may have serious consequences:

• To complete or contribute to an assessment task when it has not been specifically allowed.
• To produce ideas that you don't reference and try to pass off as your own.

To help prove the authenticity and originality of your work, you should keep all draft versions of your work to show how your assessments were developed. These can be requested at any time during your program. 

We want to support you in using AI tools legitimately and in a way that maintains your integrity and that of our academic community. If you have questions or if you are ever unsure, please speak with your Program or Course Coordinator. 

RMIT Library has developed a guide to show you how to reference content generated by AI tools.

Contract cheating services

Contract cheating refers to the use of outsourced materials (ie assessments obtained from online sources, peers or ‘tutors’) submitted by students as their own work. The person submitting the work is being dishonest by representing it as their own. 

Commercial cheating services target RMIT students on and around campus, and online.

These services offer to provide answers or complete an assessment for you, sometimes asking for payment. If you use these services, it’s considered contract cheating and is a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy. There have also been examples of contract cheating services blackmailing RMIT students.

If you have any concerns or questions about contract cheating, please email student.conduct@rmit.edu.vn.