Essay dishonest at universities an ‘open secret’ regardless of new legislation

[ad_1] Lucy Parry BBC Yorkshire & Lincolnshire investigations

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6dce/live/709a2c90-ce90-11f0-a3de-17b3978993a3.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6dce/live/709a2c90-ce90-11f0-a3de-17b3978993a3.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6dce/live/709a2c90-ce90-11f0-a3de-17b3978993a3.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6dce/live/709a2c90-ce90-11f0-a3de-17b3978993a3.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6dce/live/709a2c90-ce90-11f0-a3de-17b3978993a3.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6dce/live/709a2c90-ce90-11f0-a3de-17b3978993a3.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6dce/live/709a2c90-ce90-11f0-a3de-17b3978993a3.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6dce/live/709a2c90-ce90-11f0-a3de-17b3978993a3.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images A stock image shows a woman from the chin down wearing a yellow sleeveless top and jeans. She is holding several folders and notepads under her left arm and a phone in her right hand, which she appears to be locking at. She is standing in front of a white textured wall." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photos A BBC investigation has uncovered claims that essay dishonest stays widespread at UK universities regardless of the introduction of a legislation designed to cease it.

Since April 2022, it has been unlawful to supply essays for college kids in post-16 training in England. However to date there have been no prosecutions.

The BBC has spoken to a former lecturer who describes essay dishonest as an "open secret" and to a businessman who claims to have made hundreds of thousands from promoting "mannequin reply" essays to college college students.

Universities UK, which represents 141 establishments, stated there have been "extreme penalties" for college kids caught submitting work that was not their very own.

One worldwide scholar stated the chance to review a grasp's diploma at a British college was a dream come true.

Alia, whose identify has been modified to guard her identification, stated she and her 20 abroad classmates struggled with writing lengthy essays throughout their course on the College of Lincoln – and lots of quickly stopped participating.

"It was each their lack of understanding in English language and the truth that they didn't take care of the lesson and had been speaking to one another or enjoying on their telephones," she stated.

In keeping with Alia, most of the college students turned to essay-writing corporations, which had been straightforward to seek out on-line and charged about £20 for 1,000 phrases.

She was decided to do her personal work, however stated she was laughed at and known as silly by some classmates who informed her: "You're dropping sleep, lacking your meals and getting so drained – simply pay somebody."

Alia claimed that by the second module, a few third of her cohort missed each class and "some would simply stand behind the category door, submit their presence and go away".

It's not unlawful to cheat at college, however since 2022 it has been a legal offence to supply, organize or promote dishonest providers for monetary acquire to college students taking a qualification at any post-16 academic establishment in England.

The BBC discovered dozens of examples of corporations persevering with to promote their essay-writing providers to UK college students, by their very own web sites and on social media.

Nevertheless, each the Crown Prosecution Service and the Division for Training, which have powers to prosecute, informed the BBC that they had no recorded offences reaching a primary listening to in a Justice of the Peace's courtroom below the Abilities and Submit-16 Training Act.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/39fd/live/bf391c30-d836-11f0-8e24-c74974908b27.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/39fd/live/bf391c30-d836-11f0-8e24-c74974908b27.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/39fd/live/bf391c30-d836-11f0-8e24-c74974908b27.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/39fd/live/bf391c30-d836-11f0-8e24-c74974908b27.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/39fd/live/bf391c30-d836-11f0-8e24-c74974908b27.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/39fd/live/bf391c30-d836-11f0-8e24-c74974908b27.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/39fd/live/bf391c30-d836-11f0-8e24-c74974908b27.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/39fd/live/bf391c30-d836-11f0-8e24-c74974908b27.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Barclay Littlewood/Humanity University Barclay Littlewood has ginger hair and a beard and wears a light-blue top. A tall green pot plant sits behind his left shoulder." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Barclay Littlewood/Humanity College Barclay Littlewood, pictured in a video for the Humanity College, says his essays are supposed to present a "mannequin reply" for college kids to work from

Barclay Littlewood, who's from Huddersfield however based mostly in Dubai, says he has made hundreds of thousands from the trade.

Mr Littlewood was working as a barrister when he began writing essays for different folks in 2003. His firm now claims to make use of a worldwide community of three,000 freelance writers – a few of whom he says are lecturers – protecting subjects together with legislation, enterprise and sociology.

He stated his costs began at £200, although bigger orders for doctorate or masters-level essays might price "as much as £20,000".

When challenged by the BBC, he denied breaking English legislation, claiming his essays had been a "mannequin reply" on which college students might base their very own work.

Mr Littlewood stated he had now developed his personal synthetic intelligence, drawing on lots of of hundreds of essays written by his firm. This meant clients might have a university-level, "assured grade" essay in minutes.

The BBC organized for Steve Foster, a former lecturer, to mark an essay we generated by Mr Littlewood's device, claiming to be of a 2:1 degree-grade customary.

Mr Foster taught English language on the Worldwide Research Centre, affiliated to the College of Lincoln, for eight years, earlier than lecturing for 4 years on the college's enterprise college.

He stated he might inform the essay was not written by a scholar as a result of there was no "human contact", but it surely was of a 2:1 customary and had "no errors in any respect".

The dimensions of essay dishonest was an "open secret" and one of many causes he left the sector in 2024, Mr Foster stated.

On one event, he noticed a receipt from an essay-writing service fall out of a paper as his colleague marked it.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/1733/live/b3fe3b30-ce94-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/1733/live/b3fe3b30-ce94-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1733/live/b3fe3b30-ce94-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/1733/live/b3fe3b30-ce94-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/1733/live/b3fe3b30-ce94-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/1733/live/b3fe3b30-ce94-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/1733/live/b3fe3b30-ce94-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1733/live/b3fe3b30-ce94-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="BBC/Lucy Parry A head-and-shoulders image showing Steve Foster looking directly at the camera. He is semi-bald, with closely cropped white hair. He wears a striped blue and white shirt. He is standing in front of a beige window blind and there are pot-plants on a shelf behind him." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> BBC/Lucy Parry Steve Foster says he stop as a lecturer as a result of dishonest was rife amongst college students

Mr Foster stated he believed dishonest was extra prevalent amongst worldwide college students as a result of some didn't have ok English language abilities.

He described one abroad scholar scoring 2% in an examination and 99% in an essay.

"Whenever you get that form of disparity within the marks, it is clear the scholar has been dishonest," he stated.

"Whenever you see a scholar who clearly struggled with the language and so they submit an essay which William Shakespeare would have been happy with, then instantly that is going to arouse suspicion."

Mr Foster claimed many lecturers "turned a blind eye" to dishonest, which had allowed the issue to "snowball".

"Would you wish to journey over a bridge that is been designed by considered one of these college students?" he requested. "Would you wish to put this accountant in command of what you are promoting's operations?"

In an announcement, Universities UK stated the House Workplace set the extent of English required as a part of the situations for scholar visas.

"All universities have codes of conduct that embody extreme penalties for college kids discovered to be submitting work that's not their very own," the assertion added.

Extra from the investigations crew Universities have turn into more and more reliant on greater charges from worldwide college students in recent times, as tuition charges from UK college students haven't stored up with inflation.

Earlier this 12 months, a report warned more than four in 10 universities would soon be in financial difficulty , principally due to a drop within the variety of worldwide college students coming to the UK.

In the latest 12 months of knowledge (2023-24), there have been 730,000 non-UK college students enrolled at UK universities, making up 25% of the full scholar inhabitants.

The BBC submitted Freedom of Info requests to each college within the UK, asking what number of formal tutorial misconduct investigations into essay dishonest had taken place within the tutorial 12 months ending summer season 2024, and what number of concerned worldwide college students.

Of the 53 greater training establishments that supplied usable responses, 48 reported that worldwide college students had been disproportionately represented in tutorial misconduct investigations.

Penalties for dishonest can vary from a warning or being awarded zero marks, to suspension or exclusion.

Universities UK declined to touch upon the potential causes for the excessive proportion of worldwide college students being investigated. However one college informed the BBC it was possible as a result of many misconduct instances had been about poor apply – akin to dangerous referencing – relatively than intentional misconduct.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/86fe/live/4c844a30-cec6-11f0-81f3-a1b2f542a1e8.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/86fe/live/4c844a30-cec6-11f0-81f3-a1b2f542a1e8.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/86fe/live/4c844a30-cec6-11f0-81f3-a1b2f542a1e8.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/86fe/live/4c844a30-cec6-11f0-81f3-a1b2f542a1e8.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/86fe/live/4c844a30-cec6-11f0-81f3-a1b2f542a1e8.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/86fe/live/4c844a30-cec6-11f0-81f3-a1b2f542a1e8.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/86fe/live/4c844a30-cec6-11f0-81f3-a1b2f542a1e8.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/86fe/live/4c844a30-cec6-11f0-81f3-a1b2f542a1e8.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images A general shot of the University of Lincoln's Alfred Tennyson Building, which is a modern-looking, multi-storey, grey and orange building looking on to an open square." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photos The College of Lincoln stated it took "applicable responses" if it caught college students dishonest

The College of Lincoln was some of the excessive examples, with 78% of 387 investigations involving non-UK college students, who make up solely 22% of the establishment's scholar inhabitants.

A spokesperson for the college stated tutorial misconduct was a "sector-wide problem". Alleged breaches had been "completely investigated and addressed by our established processes, with applicable responses the place misconduct is confirmed".

Larger training establishments run essays by programmes akin to Turnitin, that are designed to detect plagiarism and false authorship.

Annie Chechitelli, chief product officer at Turnitin, stated the rise of AI had made detection and deterrence "extra important than ever".

In a couple of in 10 papers reviewed since 2023, Turnitin stated its detection device discovered AI wrote at the very least 20% of the fabric.

Turnitin stated essay mills had been nonetheless well-liked due to a rising demand for providers that evade AI detection - preying on college students' concern of being caught.

Eve Alcock, the director of public affairs on the High quality Assurance Company, which goals to enhance requirements in greater training, stated essay mills remained a "menace to tutorial integrity throughout the UK".

She inspired universities to contemplate transferring away from essay-based assessments in response to the rise of generative AI instruments, to permit for extra "genuine" assessments.

Alia, who has now completed her course, stated she felt disillusioned by her expertise.

"I've discovered quite a bit myself, and achieved quite a bit, however how is the employer going to see the distinction between somebody like me and these folks?" she requested.