US ‘education support’ company Chegg takes Australian uni regulator to court

US ‘online study help’ company Chegg, which the higher education regulator previously named as a threat to academic integrity, has taken the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to court.

Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency chief executive Mary Russell.

US online education support company Chegg, which the higher education regulator previously named as a threat to academic integrity, has taken TEQSA to court, arguing that it has been “singled out” and viewed “more critically” than other similar technologies.

Chegg, which describes itself as a “digital learning platform to improve student outcomes”, has launched a judicial review against the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency in the Federal Court over “disagreements” about their operation in the Australian market.

Australia is an important market for the company, with 100,000 paying subscribers.

Top Australian universities have recently referred to Chegg as a “contract cheating” service – a label the company firmly rejects.

Mid-last year, TEQSA wrote to all 193 universities and other higher education providers to raise concerns from universities that “the online platform Chegg.com facilitates contraventions of the provisions of the TEQSA Act which prohibit providing, offering to provide or arranging for a third person to provide academic cheating services”.

A Chegg spokesperson told The Australian that “for over two years, we have engaged in active conversations with TEQSA, investing significant time and resources into finding a constructive path forward”.

“Chegg has worked co-operatively and in good faith, proposing solutions to resolve any reasonable concerns. This has included Chegg executives travelling to Melbourne to meet with TEQSA’s former and current CEOs on two occasions.”

The Chegg spokesperson said that as part of their conversations with TEQSA, they had custom-build a program called “Honour Shield” for internal university Learning Management Systems “to prevent cheating”.

Chegg operates through a Q&A system, where subscribers post questions and get expert worked solutions, with additional support from AI chatbots. According to its website, with Honour Shield a university can block students from searching particular questions during an allocated exam.

“Just last year, Chegg was taking steps, which it understood would resolve TEQSA’s concerns, at great cost,” the spokesperson said.

“Despite the rapid advancements in generative AI technology offering immediate and unfettered student support, TEQSA continues to single out Chegg’s products, viewing them more critically than other similar technologies, and reject our efforts to address their concerns with innovative solutions.”

Sources close to the matter said the tone of conversations soured with new leadership at TEQSA.

“Chegg has raised its concerns with TEQSA, and while the conversations have been fruitful, there is still disagreement which necessitated our request for the court’s review,” the spokesperson said. “Our desire has and will continue to be to work cooperatively with TEQSA.”

A statement from TEQSA said: “As this matter is before the court, it is not appropriate for TEQSA to comment at this time.”

TEQSA has released several resources to help universities manage the threat of AI. In June, it asked all registered higher education providers to submit a credible institutional action plan to address generative AI.

The University of NSW’s 2023 Student Conduct and Complaints report referred to Chegg as a contract cheating service.

“ ‘Essay mill’ activity, ‘tutoring’ services, where ‘tutors’ complete the assessment on the students’ behalf, and students posting assignment and exam questions to course help services, such as Chegg during online exams have continued,” the report stated.

The University of Sydney’s recently released 2023 Academic Integrity Report noted that “From late 2022, the administrators of chegg.com (a site supplying assessment answers to students) stopped providing information on users, a source of dozens of investigations and academic dishonesty outcomes in 2022 and prior.”

Chegg’s business model has suffered with the widespread use of AI.