Copyright for students

Copyright is important because it protects the content that you use and create while you are studying.

Textbooks, course materials, images, lectures, and examination questions are all protected as are the written work and assignments you produce.

Just as you wouldn’t be happy if someone copied and shared your work without permission, your lecturers and the copyright owners of the work they use and share would not be happy if you copied and shared their work without permission.  

The University pays for licences which allow lecturers to share content with you. Course materials have been copied under either one of these licences or the New Zealand Copyright Act.

If you do any of the following, you could end up facing disciplinary action by the University:

  • Recording lectures without permission from the lecturer
  • Sharing or selling to others recorded lectures and PowerPoint presentations or course materials
  • Posting course materials or e-textbooks on social media sites such as Facebook

In the worst case scenario you could face legal action for copyright infringement by the copyright owner.

For further information see Copyright for students (download below) and the Academic Integrity Course - Module 4: Using Copyrighted Material Correctly.

The following policies and statutes are also relevant: