Know your student rights!

Life at University can be hard – but going through it without knowing your rights is even harder. It’s important that you know the protections that exist to protect you and your rights at University, and in wider student life.

Academic Integrity

The University takes academic integrity seriously – you should familiarise yourself with the University’s Academic Integrity Regulations which set out its expectations. 

  • If you’re accused of an academic integrity breach you are entitled to fair process – academics may not accuse you of breaching the Regulations without a firm basis or outside of an academic integrity process. 

  • If you breach the Regulations, the University’s response must be proportionate and take your circumstances into account. You are entitled to support from the VUWSA Advocacy service. For more about our Advocacy service, tap here.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is a quickly evolving area of focus for the University – and it touches just about every part of learning and teaching at Vic. 

  • At VUW, every course coordinator has the discretion to decide how much or how little AI you can use in assessment tasks.  

  • The University’s Generative AI Policy says that course coordinators are responsible for clearly communicating their expectations to you regarding AI use throughout the course 

  • As a general rule, treat AI as a study buddy rather than something that replaces your learning or thinking – if you get accused of an academic misconduct because of your AI use, get in touch with the VUWSA Advocacy service. 

Lecture Recordings

As students, we have incredibly busy lives – so, good access to lecture recordings is vital to supporting our success at University. 

The University’s Lecture Recording Policy dictates that lecturers must provide lecture recordings in a timely manner, unless they have an approved exemption. Exemptions can only be granted from criteria listed in the policy such as: 

  • Copyright concerns 

  • Personal or sensitive content being discussed as a part of coursework 

  • The teaching style isn’t conducive to lecture recordings – like performance based courses 

  • Full list is at cl 4.4 of the policy 

  • If you have issues with how lecture recordings work in your courses, speak to your Class Rep or VUWSA via studentvoice@vuwsa.org.nz