Longerenong College believes that students should not be able to gain any academic advantage through academic misconduct. For the purposes of this policy, "academic misconduct" includes, but is not limited to:

1. cheating,
2. plagiarism, and
3. any other conduct by which a student seeks to gain for himself or herself, or for any other person, any academic advantage or advancement to which he or she or that other person is not entitled.

Longerenong College believes that student conduct should not breach discipline or good order. For the purposes of this policy, "general misconduct" includes, but is not limited to, conduct or behaviour which:

1. is lewd or obscene,
2. unreasonably impairs the ability of any person to participate in any activity of College life sanctioned by the College,
3. unreasonably prevents or attempts to prevent any person authorised by the College to speak at any lecture, class, seminar or other academic activity, or any political, social or similar gathering,
4. disrupts the orderly conduct of any teaching activity, practical work or other activity forming part of a course, subject or group of subjects at or offered by the College,
5. causes any person on or in the immediate vicinity of any College premises to hold reasonable fears for his or her safety or physical or psychological well-being,
6. causes any person on or in the immediate vicinity of any College premises to feel intimidated, threatened or in fear of being attacked,
7. causes or contributes to a breach of any provision of an Act, regulation, subordinate instrument or code of practice or conduct applying to the College or to which staff or students of the College are subject,
8. breaches any of the College's policies or procedures,
9. breaches the College's sexual harassment policy as in force from time to time,
10. breaches or fails to comply with any rule or request made or order or direction given pursuant to a power conferred under any of the College's policies or procedures,
11. interferes with, or causes damage to, or loss of, any property or facilities owned or controlled by any person whilst such property or facilities are lawfully on any College premises,
12. constitutes a failure to comply with any reasonable request, direction or order given to the student by a member of the academic or general staff for the purpose of ensuring the safety of any person, the preservation of any property, the maintenance of good order or for the purposes of this policy or any other College policy or procedure,
13. constitutes a failure to comply with any request by a member of staff to supply his or her name, address and student card or other evidence of identity which request may be made only if the member of staff believes on reasonable grounds that the student has committed or is about to commit general or academic misconduct,
14. involves the impersonation or taking part in the impersonation of another person or the use of forged, false or falsified or incomplete evidence of academic standing or immigration status or any other relevant matter in order to gain or maintain enrolment,
15. involves concealing, misrepresenting or withholding, the whole or part of a student's academic record, or submitting incorrect or misleading details of his or her academic record or immigration papers or any other relevant matter, or relying on the academic record or immigration papers or any other relevant material of another person or persons, in order to gain or maintain enrolment,
16. encourages, persuades or incites any other person to engage in conduct or behaviour constituting general misconduct.

For the purposes of this policy, a "student" includes:

1. a person who is enrolled in a course, a subject or a group of subjects at or offered by the College,
2. a student of another higher education institution or university who is granted temporary or on going rights of access to College premises and facilities,
3. a person who was a student at the time of any alleged breach of discipline or good order or academic misconduct,
4. a person who became a student after having allegedly committed a breach of discipline or good order of the kind described in paragraphs 1.2(n) and 1.2(o) above, and
5. a person who has consented in writing to be subject to this policy.

Students must ensure that they do not commit academic or general misconduct.

Students must also report incidents or suspected incidents of academic or general misconduct by other students if they become aware of them.

1. An allegation of general misconduct is to be notified as soon as possible by a staff member or student to either the Vice Principal or the Campus Manager.
2. Where the Vice Principal or the Campus Manager, after notifying the student of the allegation of general misconduct and giving the student an opportunity to be heard, has determined that the student has committed a breach of discipline or good order, he or she may impose any or all of the following penalties:
   1. reprimand the student,
   2. impose on the student a fine of not more than $200,
   3. require the student to pay an amount to cover the cost of repairing any damage caused by the student to any property or facilities.
3. Where, in the opinion of the Vice Principal or the Campus Manager, a fine of $200 would be an inadequate penalty for the breach, or a fine would not be an appropriate penalty for the breach, the officer may refer the matter to the Principal for the imposition of a penalty.
4. Where the Principal, after giving a student an opportunity to be heard, has determined that the student has committed a breach of discipline or good order, the Principal may impose any or all of the following penalties:
   1. reprimand the student,
   2. fine the student not more than $600,
   3. require the student to pay an amount to cover the cost of repairing any damage caused by the student to any property or facilities,
   4. exclude the student from specified College premises or facilities either permanently or for such period and on such terms and conditions as is thought fit,
   5. exclude the student from the College either permanently or for such period as is thought fit.
5. Every person who imposes or recommends a penalty under this section must notify the student or students concerned and the Student Administration Officer in writing within three working days of the decision made and of the penalty imposed.
6. Notwithstanding any other provision in this policy, where the Principal believes that a student is behaving in such a way as to pose a risk of injury to himself or herself or to any other person, or a risk of damage to property, the Principal may immediately suspend the student's enrolment.
7. Where a student's enrolment has been suspended under this section, the Principal must, within seven days of the date of the suspension, notify the student in writing of the suspension, giving the reason(s) for the decision and, after giving the student an opportunity to be heard, which must occur within twenty-one days of the date of suspension of enrolment, may, if satisfied that the student poses a risk of injury to himself or herself or to any other person, or a risk of damage to property, exclude the student from the College either permanently or for such other period as is thought fit.

1. Allegations of academic misconduct must be notified as soon as is practicable to the Vice Principal.
2. The Vice Principal, within seven days of the notification referred to in section 3.2(1), ensure that the student against whom the misconduct is alleged is notified of details of the allegation and of the time and place at which a committee will convene to deal with the allegation.
3. The committee must be convened not later than twenty-one days and not earlier than seven days after the notification in section 3.2(1).
4. Notice of the meeting is deemed to have been delivered if sent by pre-paid post to the student's last known address as recorded on the Student Administration computer system.
5. The committee consists of the Principal or the Principal's nominee, who must chair the committee, one senior member of the academic staff nominated by the Principal and a representative nominated by the student association or, where there is no student association, a student member of the College.
6. The student may attend the committee meeting and may make a written submission to the committee.
7. The committee may follow any procedure it considers appropriate, as it is not bound by the rules of evidence or other technicalities or legal forms, and may inform itself in relation to any matter in such manner as it thinks fit, but must:
   1. act fairly,
   2. afford each party the opportunity adequately to state his or her case and to correct or contradict any relevant statement which he or she believes to be prejudicial to his or her case,
   3. ensure that each party has proper notice of the alleged misconduct, and
   4. ensure that all documents which are to be relied on by a party at the meeting have been made available to the other party.
8. The student may be accompanied to the meeting by a friend, but the friend is not to act as an advocate.
9. After hearing the evidence in support of the allegation of misconduct, and hearing the student and considering any written submission by the student, the committee may, if it finds the student guilty of academic misconduct, impose any or all of the following penalties:
   1. reprimand the student,
   2. deprive the student of credit for the subject or for the component of assessment of the subject to which the academic misconduct relates,
   3. fine the student not more than $600,
   4. recommend to the Principal that the student be excluded from the College for such period as it thinks fit,
   5. recommend to the Principal that the student's enrolment be terminated.
10. Where the committee recommends to the Principal that a student be excluded from the College or that a student's enrolment be terminated, the Principal, after giving the student an opportunity to be heard, may exclude the student from the College for such period as the Principal thinks fit or terminate the student's enrolment as the case may be.
11. Each committee which imposes or recommends a penalty under this section must notify the student or students concerned and the Student Administration Officer in writing within three working days of the decision made and of the penalty, if any, imposed.

1. A student may appeal against any penalty imposed for breach of discipline or good order.
2. A notice of appeal must be in writing and be lodged with the Campus Manager within fourteen days of the day on which the student was notified of the penalty unless, in special circumstances, the chairperson of the appeal committee extends to a specified date the time for lodging notice of appeal.
3. A notice of appeal must set out the grounds on which the student proposes to rely.
4. The Campus Manager will assemble an appeal committee comprising two persons from a panel consisting of the Vice Principal, the course coordinators, the Student Administration Officer (one of whom must chair the committee) and the president of the Student Association or his or her nominee. A person who has been involved in any way with the decision to impose the penalty appealed against may not be a member of the appeal committee .
5. The committee must be convened within twenty-one days after the lodging of the notice of appeal.
6. Notice of the meeting is deemed to have been delivered, if sent by pre-paid post, to the student's last known address as recorded on the Student Administration computer system.
7. On the hearing of an appeal the appeal committee may follow any procedure it considers appropriate, as it is not bound by the rules of evidence or other technicalities or legal forms, and may inform itself in relation to any matter in such manner as it thinks fit, but must:
   1. act fairly,
   2. afford each party the opportunity adequately to state his or her case and to correct or contradict any relevant statement which he or she believes to be prejudicial to his or her case, and
   3. ensure that all documents which are to be relied on by a party at the meeting have been made available to the other party.
8. The student may be accompanied to the meeting by a friend who may act as an advocate.
9. After considering the material relied upon in support of the appeal and any answering material, the appeal committee must either dismiss the appeal or uphold the appeal and either confirm, set aside or vary any penalty imposed, but may not increase any penalty.
10. The appeal committee must report its decision to the Principal within five working days of the decision.

1. A student may appeal to the Principal against any decision made or penalty imposed for academic misconduct.
2. A notice of appeal must be in writing and be lodged with the Principal within fourteen days of the day on which the student was notified of the penalty.
3. A notice of appeal must set out the grounds on which the student proposes to rely.
4. Within fourteen days of the lodging of the notice of appeal the Principal must establish a committee comprising two senior members of the academic staff (one of whom must chair the committee) and the president of the Student Association or his or her nominee, to hear the appeal. A person who has been involved in any way with the decision to impose the penalty appealed against may not be a member of the committee.
5. The committee must be convened within twenty-one days after the lodging of the notice of appeal.
6. Notice of the meeting is deemed to have been delivered if sent by pre-paid post to the student's last known address as recorded on the Student Administration computer system.
7. On the hearing of an appeal the committee may follow any procedure it considers appropriate, as it is not bound by the rules of evidence or other technicalities or legal forms, and may inform itself in relation to any matter in such manner as it thinks fit, but must:
   1. act fairly,
   2. afford each party the opportunity adequately to state his or her case and to correct or contradict any relevant statement which he or she believes to be prejudicial to his or her case, and
   3. ensure that all documents which are to be relied on by a party at the meeting have been made available to the other party.
8. The student may be accompanied to the meeting by a friend who may act as an advocate.
9. After considering the material relied on in support of the appeal and any answering material, the committee must either dismiss the appeal or uphold the appeal and either confirm, set aside or vary any penalty imposed, but may not increase any penalty.
10. The committee must report its decision to the Principal.

1. Any person who exercises any power under this policy or hears any appeal must treat the subject matter thereof in the strictest confidence.

1. Whilst a fine or an order for payment for repairs to property remains unpaid, or whilst a student is excluded from the College, the student may not, without the written consent of the Principal:
   1. enrol, or
   2. receive any results of assessment, or
   3. graduate or receive a diploma or any certificate stating that the student is qualified to graduate or receive a diploma in the College, or
   4. receive a certificate of academic record.