Universities ‘call for ban on essay mill companies’

More than 40 university chiefs are reported to have written to the Education Secretary calling for a ban on so-called “essay mills”.

The vice-chancellors have called for companies who offer essaywriting services to be made illegal amid fears they are undermining the integrity of degree courses.

As many as one in seven recent graduates may have cheated by using “essay mills” during the last four years, according to a recent study.

Students who get caught face punishment by their university, including possible disqualification, although it is not illegal for a company to offer the service.

The vice chancellors are calling for those who provide the services, rather than students who use them, to be targeted by new laws.

Universities Minister Sam Gyimah has said outlawing the services completely remains an option although work is ongoing to tackle the problem by other means. He said: “I expect universities to be educating students about these services and highlight the stiff, and possibly lifechanging, penalties they face.

“I also want the sector to do more to grip the problem, for example by tackling advertising of these services in their institutions and finally blocking these services from sending an alarming number of emails to the inboxes of university students and staff.”