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A former law student who accused Victoria University of racial discrimination over academic misconduct sanctions has had their claim dismissed.
A former law student who accused Victoria University of racial discrimination over academic misconduct sanctions has failed to convince the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
Member Stuart Webb found no evidence of racial bias.
The male student had claimed he was “treated unfavourably because of identified attributes”, which he alluded to his colour and race/ethnic background, after receiving a zero for an essay found to contain large amounts of copied material.
He argued the university treated him unfairly and should have given him a chance to rewrite the essay, while the university denied that race played any part in its decision.
The university submitted documentation alongside written statements from three staff members, among whom was the lecturer responsible for investigating the essay.
The student was questioned about his claims and had to prove that he was treated unfairly because of his race.
The lecturer, Dr Matthew Harvey, said he was unaware of the student’s background and only took action because the essay had a high amount of copied material.
The student had spoken to Harvey in late 2022, explaining he was in Bangladesh and experiencing network difficulties.
Harvey formally accused the student of plagiarism, stating that according to the Turnitin plagiarism software, his essay had an “84 per cent similarity score to other sources”, and gave him the opportunity to respond to the allegations.
The student denied plagiarising the essay, notifying the university that he had told Harvey that “my sources were referenced in the assignment” and that “if he was still unhappy about it or asked me to rewrite the assignment I was happy to do it”, as he didn’t want the lecturer to be concerned.
He maintained that he had done nothing wrong, insisting that “I referenced my work thoroughly”.
The university ultimately found the student responsible for academic misconduct due to plagiarism, saying that aspects of his essay were not referenced and that the copied material seemed to be “deliberate and planned”.
Harvey gave him a zero for the assignment and a formal warning, but told the hearing that the student’s “colour, race, or ethnic background was not relevant” to his decision, and was repeatedly pressed on this by the tribunal.
Webb had accepted the evidence that 84 per cent of the student’s essay matched existing sources.
Over three-quarters of the copied text originated from a single blog post that was missing from his reference list, despite the student maintaining that the omission was an unintentional error.
Webb had not accepted his explanation that he did not know it was plagiarism and that he had missed a reference due to stress from multiple assignments.
It was found that the student had provided no evidence that his race or appearance swayed the university’s decision, determining that the punishment was “due solely to the significant proportion of the essay being copied without attribution”.
Webb stated that his discrimination claims were “entirely without merit”, and Harvey noted that he was not aware of the student’s background, having never met him personally – with his only knowledge that he may have a connection with Bangladesh, where the “network issues” occurred.
The claim was dismissed, with the tribunal ordering both sides to pay their respective legal costs.
Citation: Ahamed v Victoria University (No 2) [2026] VCAT 859 (15 October 2026)
