Curtin University’s push to rethink how students are assessed in the age of AI has been recognised internationally, with its Assessment 2030 team named the Asia-Pacific region winner of the 2026 Tracey Bretag Prize — an international prize that recognises academic integrity in higher education.

Assessment 2030 is Curtin’s University-wide program transforming teaching and learning. It brings educators, students and industry partners together to redesign curriculum and assessment for a world shaped by AI and other new technologies.

Rather than trying to ban or detect AI, the program is creating new ways for students to demonstrate what they know and can do, while upholding rigorous academic standards.

The program’s public website has drawn more than 40,000 visits from 35 countries, reflecting strong interest from educators well beyond Curtin.

The judging panel praised the initiative’s “outstanding and ambitious whole-of-university approach to assessment redesign, commitment to distributed leadership, strong external interest, and impact across both the university and the wider sector”.

Curtin Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne congratulated the Assessment 2030 team, saying the award reflected Curtin’s commitment to leading the way on the future of learning.

“As technology changes how students learn and work, we must ensure our assessments evolve without compromising the standards that underpin a Curtin University degree,” Professor Hayne said.

“Preparing students for a changing world means rethinking assessment while holding firm to academic integrity. Assessment 2030 brings those priorities together.”

Curtin Assessment 2030 Director, Professor Mollie Dollinger, said the program had moved past a detect and punish approach to AI.

“There’s been a lot of attention on whether AI will undermine university assessment. My view is that if a machine can complete an assessment in under a minute the problem is the assessment design, not the student,” Professor Dollinger said.

“That means we need to invest in our educators, which is exactly what we are doing at Curtin. We are supporting them to uplift our units and courses and build programs that prepare students for the world they are graduating into.”

The Tracey Bretag Prize for Academic Integrity celebrates outstanding contributions to the field, with a focus on placing integrity, humanity and learning at the heart of the student experience.

The prize honours the late Professor Tracey Bretag, a leading researcher and founding editor of the International Journal for Educational Integrity, who championed an evidence-based, student-centred approach across institutions.

Professor Dollinger said Professor Bretag’s work had helped shape Assessment 2030.

“Tracey’s message was that education is our core business and it deserves our energy. That means a whole-of-institution response, a focus on assessment design itself, and a recognition that doing this well takes hard work, expertise and real partnership with educators and students,” Professor Dollinger said.

“That is what this award recognises, and it belongs to the hundreds of Curtin staff and students who have made it happen.”

For more information about Curtin’s Assessment 2030, visit here.

For more information about the Tracey Bretag Prize for Academic Integrity, visit here.