Students ‘cheat on essays using university wifi’
THOUSANDS of students are shamelessly using their university’s wifi to search for firms that will help them cheat in academic essays.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show universities have recorded an enormous number of visits to so-called ‘essay mill’ websites.
A typical site charges between £100 and £1,000 to write a student’s essay for them, employing graduates in the relevant subjects to take on the work.
One called UKessays.com will deliver an essay at any chosen mark, at any given word count, within seven days. It claims to have been ‘trusted by students since 2003’ and promises ‘qualified academic writers’ with ‘rigorous quality controls’.
Three universities – two in the prestigious Russell Group – have revealed their IT departments recorded thousands of visits to such sites over an 18-month period. At Manchester University the internet hits to five prominent essay writing sites showed how there was a frenzy of activity in the lead up to course deadlines. March saw around 3,500 visits to these sites which gradually rose to more than 7,000 hits in May. But then as the deadlines passed, the number of visits to these five sites dropped back down to around 2,500.
Warwick University said its system found more than 1,000 visits to the five prominent essay-writing sites in the month of August alone. And Sussex University also revealed that it had logged around 750 visits to these sites in a three-week period.
Running such a business is not against the law, although it is against all universities’ rules for students to use their services.
Many of the websites claim they are merely producing ‘model essays’, which students should then take as inspiration.
UKessays.com has a disclaimer on its website saying: ‘Handing in the work of a researcher is plagiarism because you are passing off someone else’s words as your own.’
It comes after a study found as many as one in seven students may have called upon the use of an ‘essay mill’ firm in a bid to get their degree. Nicola Dandridge, of the Office for Students watchdog, said: ‘The essay mills industry constitutes a cynical attempt to normalise cheating.
‘Their operations can never be justified, are detrimental to the studies of those using them, and deeply unfair on the vast majority of students who complete their own work.’
Last year, 40 university chiefs called on the Government to ban essay mills, but so far no action has been taken. The then universities minister, Sam Gyimah, said: ‘I expect universities to be educating students about these services and highlight the stiff... penalties they face.’