Speaker 1: Academic integrity is a phrase that's thrown around by national bodies, HE providers, lecturers, students' unions and many more people, and it's really important that you as students understand what it is and what it means for you.

Speaker 2: Academic integrity is about owning your work truly, believing and excelling in your own academic voice. Academic integrity is about being honest.

Speaker 1: It's really important that you recognise that you are thoroughly deserving of your place on your course. Your higher education provider has accepted you onto your course and given you a place because they think not only do you deserve it, but they believe that you have the skills and understanding to be able to succeed.

Speaker 2: Utilising essay mills, which is where you pay someone to complete an assignment for you, also known as contract cheating. Collusion, which is working with other students to create a group response. Plagiarism, which is utilising other people's work and passing it off as your own without referencing them, alongside other things such as data falsification.

Speaker 1: Academic misconduct affects students personally, professionally and educationally. Educationally, it could lead to your suspension, it could lead to dismissal, you could have to redo modules, redo pieces of work, you might have to pay for this in some examples, and in some cases it may lead to a marker on your degree transcript.

Speaker 2: It could mean that there is public distrust in the system, leading to poor graduate employment. It could also lead to poor personal wellbeing. We know that utilising some of these poor standards of academic integrity can lead to blackmail, can lead to you utilising services time and time again, meaning that the issues that are actually affecting you aren't actually dealt with.

Speaker 1: Don't be afraid to ask for help. That is a key message when it comes to academic integrity. If you're struggling, reach out. In some institutions, there'll be study skills support readily available for you, whether that's through pre-recorded sessions online, top tips on a website or workshops that you can book onto and attend. So make sure you're keeping an eye out for that and if you're unsure, ask for help and advice, whether that's at the SU, at your university, ask lecturers, ask support staff. There's loads of people that you can ask about how you can improve your study skills.

Speaker 2: You could ask for mitigating circumstances or extenuating circumstances, if you need a little more time to apply what you have learnt to your studies and assessments.

Speaker 1: Academics go and speak to them. If you're struggling, there are academics on your course who will support you. They want you to succeed. They want you to thrive. And it's really important that if you're struggling, you go and speak to them and say what you're struggling with and then they'll either be able to support you straight away or signpost you or be able to get you access to the support that you need.

Speaker 2: And you can always speak to your Students' Union, who are independent from the university and often have an advice centre that can offer free, confidential and independent advice. But wait, there is more that you can do. You can encourage your institution to sign up to the Quality Assurance Agency's Academic Integrity Charter. This has been formulated by sector-leading experts on academic integrity, ranging from professors to Student Union officers. And has student voice in the centre of it. It helps institutions to ensure that they deal with academic integrity appropriately and that they are supporting you as students.

Speaker 1: And the idea is that institutions will build their own policies, support systems, procedures, which are really going to help students. So if they haven't signed up already, send them a letter, send them an email, speak to your Students' Union and try and get them to sign up and take academic integrity seriously to make sure that students are supported. And finally, share this video. We'd love to get out to as many people as we can and work alongside the Hashtag Better by You campaign. The Hashtag Better by You campaign is really there to support students, to educate students, but also to call on educational providers and national bodies to all come together. This is something we all believe in. And therefore, as a sector, we should be coming together to make sure that our students succeed and are given every opportunity to succeed and achieve the best that they can.

Speaker 2: Together, we ensure that this sector and our student community can thrive. We do this together.