The University of Sydney

All University of Sydney theses should contain a statement acknowledging any use of generative AI, and if no generative AI was used the thesis should still include a statement to that effect. HDR students who use generative AI in their research or thesis should document all prompts and keep records of generated outputs.

Higher degree by research (HDR) students at the University of Sydney do not inherit the open-assessment AI permission. The Graduate Research guidance says generative AI may in general be used to improve spelling or grammar (spelling/grammar checkers and reference managers are permitted) but not to generate content; prompting AI to generate written or other content, uploading a draft to improve its academic language, and incorporating AI outputs as substantive thesis content are prohibited, except where AI is integral to the research design or methodology and approved by the supervisor and through the ethics arrangements. HDR students should never enter personal, sensitive or confidential information into any gen AI tool.

Besides Copilot, the University of Sydney lists Cogniti (designed by University educators), Harvey AI (available to all Sydney Law School students, a faculty-specific legal tool) and ChatGPT Edu. ChatGPT Edu is not yet available to all students: a student pilot is planned for October 2026 and release to all students is scheduled for Semester 1 2027. Custom GPTs, agents, plugins and connectors are individually assessed before being enabled. Its data are stored in Australia at rest, with globally routed inference.

University of Sydney academic decisions and misconduct findings use different review routes. For academic decisions, students may apply for faculty or Academic Panel review within 20 working days, and may appeal to the Student Appeals Body (SAB) within 15 working days of the review outcome, but not simply because they disagree with it. Where the Registrar makes a misconduct finding or penalty, the student may appeal to the Student Disciplinary Appeals Committee (SDAC) within 20 working days of the penalty notice. Not every AI-related academic integrity matter is a Registrar misconduct decision.

At the University of Sydney, minor academic integrity breaches may be handled locally by unit coordinators, more serious ones are investigated by the faculty Educational Integrity team, and the most serious suspected cheating is handled by the Registrar under the Student Discipline Rule. Students may bring a support person to an integrity meeting.