It took nearly two years  for the government to back the Higher Education Standards Panel’s recommendations on commercial cheating. That aside, the Group of Eight is pleased the government is going to act.

The government plans to legislate to make illegal advertising or providing “cheating services.” The Group of Eight hopes it will include:
* legislation states and territories can enact

* single over-sight by the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency

* Institutional responses, including technology to win “the arms-race” as cheating service provides improve their products

However the Eight warns that requiring students sign a “statement of intent”  to act honestly, “will inevitably be perceived as a government-issued directive.”

“Should TEQSA be designated as the single national regulator for academic integrity, then it might be assumed TEQSA will also regulate the extent to which students sign these statements. … This would seem a level of regulatory oversight and overreach that is not warranted, in a context where institutions should be incentivised and more strongly encouraged to act proactively in this area.”