University lecturers topping up earnings by helping students cheat
University lecturers are topping up their earnings by helping students cheat in their degree, a UK government-backed review will suggest.
The inquiry was commissioned by ministers amid concerns that universities are gripped by an epidemic of so-called ‘essay mills’, which sell essays, coursework or exam answers to students, telegraph.co.uk reported.
Institutions which repeatedly turn a blind eye to cheating could be stripped of their powers to award degrees by the government’s new regulator, the Office for Students (OFS).
Academic staff and lecturers are among those paid by ‘essay mill’ companies to complete work for students, the report by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), the UK’S independent quality body for higher education, is expected to find.
“These ‘essay mill’ companies prey on vulnerable academics as well as students,” said Douglas Blackstock, chief executive of the QAA.
“These are hard-pressed research assistants or lecturers, topping up their earnings. Many companies claim they get genuine academics to write their material. To make their businesses viable, they need to attract people who know enough about the subject.
“If a university was to find a member of staff was writing an essay for [their students] we would think that is a serious issue.”
The report will recommend that universities add an explicit clause into academic staff contracts to explain that “assisting a student to commit an academic offense, or ignoring evidence of misconduct, would be a cause for a staff disciplinary investigation”.
Later this month the OFS will unveil a series of conditions for registration, which institutions will have to meet if they want to retain their status as a university.
Blackstock told The Sunday Telegraph that the ability to secure academic standards is likely to be a condition for registration.
“In a really serious failing of academic standards, there will be significant consequences. [The OFS] allows for the removal of degree awarding powers,” he said.
He said that universities must have appropriate sanctions in place to tackle ‘contract cheating’, and if they fail to address the issue ‘there have to be consequences’.
“Universities have a responsibility for academic standards,” he said.
“There are expectations that they secure standards of their degrees.”
Blackstock warned that failing to confront fraudulent university work not only undermines academic standards, but is also a matter of public safety when graduates enter the jobs market.