Copyright for students
Copyright applies to the materials students use, create and submit during their studies.
Using copyright material is part of uni life. When you do assignments, create content for events, perform music or post to social media, you'll probably use content that someone else has created. Which is fine, as long as you follow the rules set out in the Australian Copyright Act 1968.
Copyright in different contexts
Who owns copyright for your uni work?
You own copyright for material you create during your studies (no registration or © symbol is required). This includes coursework and assessment tasks (like essays, reports, videos, artworks, digital content and presentations).
Read our Intellectual Property Procedure or the Australian Copyright Council fact sheet for more info about ownership.
How others can use your work
If you're the copyright owner, you can decide whether you want to:
- apply all copyright law rights to your work
- release work with limitations under an open licence
- provide access to your work through a commercial vendor (publisher or platform)
- sign over your copyright to another person or organisation
- waive your rights and make your work available in the public domain
- allow people to use your work if they contact you directly for permission.
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Contact us
If you have any questions about copyright, please email copyright@federation.edu.au or call (03) 5327 9876.