Some Indian students returning from UK offer ‘contract cheating’

LANCASTER SAID INDIAN WRITERS OFFERING ESSAY WRITING SERVICES TEND TO BE HIGHLY QUALIFIED, WITH MANY CLAIMING TO BE MBAS AND EVEN PHDS

LONDON: Amid growing concern over “contract cheating” or selling assignments for a fee, UK experts have come across instances of Indian students with experience of academic demands in British universities returning home and offering essays and assignments to current students online for a price.

Contract cheating, first reported in academic circles in 2008 by Thomas Lancaster and Robert Clarke at Birmingham City University, has become more sophisticated over the years, making it difficult to detect through usual plagiarism detection software. Lancaster, now based at Imperial College London, shared recent research that showed a “lot of UK students” continuing to use Indian writers to complete essays and assignments for a fee delivered online.

“We’re also seeing people come to the UK to study at a particular university. They then gain knowledge of that university and contacts in the UK, then go back to India to set up a writing business specialising in the university where they studied,” he said. “It’s a sophisticated market and a new type of international outsourcing.”

Lancaster, an academic specialising in computer science and detecting plagiarism, said “contract cheating” provides a good wage for a worker in India. “A UK student can afford to pay for help. We see it all the time, whether it’s an essay, a computer programming assignment or an entire dissertation,” he said.