University students could be fined for plagiarised essays

University students who buy essays online face fines and a criminal record under plans to punish plagiarism being considered by the government of England.

For the first time, students caught cheating could be criminalised amid fears that a burgeoning “essay mills” industry is threatening the quality of a British university degree.

Last month The Telegraph revealed that upwards of 20,000 students enrolled at British universities are paying up to £6,750 for bespoke essays in order to obtain degrees.

Now the Department of Education has announced it is consulting with universities over how to crackdown on cheating students

The DfE is currently consulting on a number of proposals with higher education bodies, ranging from fines, academic blacklists, and even criminal records for students found submitting professionally-written essays.

The Quality Assurance Agency, the universities regulator, is consulting with the government and is pushing for new laws.

A spokeswoman for DfE said the Government was open to all proposals, adding that a change in the law was something that could be considered in the future.

“It is certainly something that could be in the guidance, we are not ruling out a change in legislation down the line” she added.

The new guidance is due to be implemented in September, in order to coincide with the beginning of the next academic year.

The planned crackdown follows The Telegraph’s investigation last month, revealing that more than 20,000 students were buying pre-written essays and dissertations from the internet.

Paying up to £6,750 for a PhD dissertation, the number of students using essay mill sites has skyrocketed over the last five years, with the Quality Assurance Agency, the university regulator, confirming that more than 100 online essay services are now in operation.

Whilst universities already use complex anti-plagiarism software to detect the copying of academic texts, the process of contract cheating - students submitting paid-for essays as their own original work - means that examiners and markers are powerless to prevent foul play.

Commenting on the announcement, Universities Minister Jo Johnson warned that any student caught purchasing and submitting bespoke essays risked seriously damaging their future career prospects.

“This form of cheating is unacceptable and every university should have strong policies and sanctions in place to detect and deal with it,” he added.

“Essay mill websites threaten to undermine the high quality reputation of a UK degree so it is vital that the sector work together to address this in a consistent and robust way.”

The QAA, which is consulting with the Government on the proposals, suggests that new criminal offences could be introduced to combat the practice, including an offence of “aiding or enabling for financial gain individuals to commit acts of academic dishonesty”.

Commenting, QAA director Ian Kimber said that new guidelines would help deter the growing number of students using essay mills, adding that the industry posed a “major challenge” to British universities.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Lord Storey, who is leading efforts to make the practice illegal, said that the consequences of plagiarism must be made clear, adding that many “rich students” are now effectively “paying their way” to a top honours degree.

He pointed out that in New Zealand, where essay mills are illegal, there had been a considerable reduction in contract cheating.

“That’s what we need to push for - so that students know that if they buy essays they will be breaking the law,” he added.

Leading academics are also in favour of a ban, with Professor Phil Newton and Michael Draper, leading experts on essay plagiarism, calling  on the Government to tighten up the legal loopholes being exploited by professional writing services.

In their new paper on the industry, entitled “Are Essay Mills committing fraud?” Prof Newton and Mr Draper propose making amendments to the Fraud Act 2006 and the Trading Regulations Act 2008, in order to make it easier for universities to challenge essay mills in court.

The authors also recommend that a new criminal offence be created which “specifically targets the undesirable behaviours” of essay-writing services, adding that current legislation makes it “extremely difficult” to bring successful legal action against the companies.

Dame Julia Goodfellow, President of Universities UK, welcomed the announcement, adding that new guidelines would build on the efforts already taken by universities to combat contract cheating.

Source: The Telegraph