This toolkit to support quality assurance agencies to address academic integrity and contract cheating (2020) has been developed to share Australia’s lessons with our colleagues in quality assurance agencies in the global fight against contract cheating and other threats to academic integrity.

Academic integrity and the threat posed by contract cheating are global issues in higher education that are not bound by country or region. While student cheating is not new, the rapid developments in technology and social media have enabled new methods of cheating and breaching academic integrity standards. Such advancements and capabilities have highlighted the need for higher education providers and regulators to be vigilant in protecting the integrity of their higher education systems, and safeguarding their reputation nationally and internationally.

As Australia’s higher education regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is working in partnership with international quality assurance agencies, providers, academics, higher education experts and students, both to educate the sector regarding the issues surrounding breaches of academic integrity, and to explore and develop a range of preventative measures in the fight against them.

This toolkit has been developed as a useful reference for staff working in quality assurance agencies, as regulators and in government departments, who are considering how best to develop various approaches to tackle the challenges in this fast evolving and sophisticated area of cheating. Importantly, the toolkit is a starting point and can be customised by users over time.