UNSW Courageous Conversations

Courageous Conversations are held in accordance with the Complaints Management and Investigations Policy and Procedure, opens in a new window. If a Case Manager determines the concerns constitute a breach of the Code of Conduct and Values, opens in a new window, a Case Manager will contact you to:

• Provide details of the concerns that have been raised.
• Explain the complaint handling process.
• Offer you an opportunity to respond to the concerns. This could be as simple as an email response or if you prefer you could meet with a Case Manager to provide a response, discuss the concerns, and ask questions about the process. 

If your lecturer or course coordinator has some concerns about whether you have met the learning outcomes for their course, you may also be asked to meet with them.

If you are contacted for a Courageous Conversation, we encourage you to reach out for support. 

• You may bring a friend or other support person to the meeting.
• You may also wish to contact Arc, opens in a new window for advice, or to request an Arc officer attend the meeting with you as your support person. 

Students are human and make mistakes, which is why we want to acknowledge this by giving students who engage in a Courageous Conversation a less serious penalty when a full and upfront admission is made. This is to recognise students who demonstrate honesty and integrity and show accountability for their mistakes.

If a student denies allegations that are raised, or offers a partial admission:

• The allegations may be dismissed with no further action taken, if their response addresses the allegations raised.
• The matter may proceed to an Investigation, and a more serious penalty is likely to apply, if their response to this does not address the concerns raised.
• If there is no additional provable or relevant evidence likely to be discovered during an investigation, a Determination may be made based on the available evidence, and a more serious penalty is likely to apply.

An example of what outcomes could be offered as part of a Courageous Conversation in an academic misconduct matter are below.

• The penalty for a full and upfront admission: A 0% (fail) grade for the assessment in which misconduct occurred.
• The penalty following denial, with the matter being substantiated following investigation: A fail grade for the course/subject in which misconduct occurred.

Students will always have an opportunity to respond to allegations, to provide supporting documentation, and to outline mitigating circumstances to be taken into consideration by the Case Manager, such as adverse health or personal circumstances, which may impact the outcome of the matter.

UNSW Conduct and Integrity matters are strictly confidential, and we respect your right to privacy. No one external to the University will be advised of this matter without your explicit written consent (for example when applying to legal practice bodies, or other similar professional associations). 

ARC is a student body independent from the University. Anything you wish to speak to ARC about remains confidential to ARC, unless you wish otherwise.

We view your time at university as a learning experience, on a number of levels including making mistakes such as misconduct. It is only in the case of the most serious breaches of the Student Code, for example repeated instances of cheating, that you won't be able to remain a member of the UNSW community.

We believe students deserve the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, and therefore UNSW does not consider misconduct matters when assessing applications for further study.