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"There are many of us who walk around with our communication detectors," says the chairman of the Joint Technical Competitions (CCP) – soon to change its name to CCINP for the 2019 session - which is the gateway for dozens of Technical schools, and brings together up to 4,000 exam candidates on a single site. Between digital watches and connected glasses, exam cheating has taken a modern turn, and so has exam surveillance.

The 2011 S Bac math exercise that had leaked on the Internet was not stolen, but there was indeed fraud said the Paris Court of Appeal, which sentenced four young people to three and four month suspended prison terms. This affair had revived the controversy over the profound examination reform. Wanting to make an example of this episode, the Minister of Education had filed a complaint and launched a "zero tolerance" plan against fraud during the baccalaureate. In first instance, the criminal court had acquitted or reduced the sentences of all the defendants prosecuted for concealment, fraud or theft.

A 23-year-old man, residing a stone's throw from Lyon, was arrested on Tuesday morning, 3 October, for trying to fool the higher education scholarship system. During the 2016-2017 school year, the young man had received government money based on the establishment he claimed to be attending the conditions he had declared. The problem was that the student had falsified his university registration document, and Crous, which manages student grants, came to realize it.

Some students pass their exams by sheer luck, others may do so thanks to their connected watch. This concentration of technology is the 2017 version of notes hidden up a sleeve, and is the object of choice for those wishing to solve equations while appearing to count the minutes. Watches, calculators, smartphones ... all are now on the radar of exam organizers and supervisors. 911 suspected instances of cheating were identified during the 2016 exam period, with more than half followed by sanctions.

For a small fee, platforms provide university qualifications, from bachelor's to doctorate degrees. "We have seen this trend return over the past three years, even though sites from the early 2000s which sold fake diplomas had been gradually disappearing," acknowledges the founder of VerifDiploma, which verifies the authenticity of job candidates’ diplomas on behalf of Human resources services. Each year, his company checks 50,000 applications. Of these, 8% contain false diplomas.

It was the Director of the University of Law in Le Havre who drew this violation to the attention of the Public Prosecutor. Cheating on an exam is punished by a maximum sentence of 3 years imprisonment and a fine of 9000 Euros.

A university of Bordeaux student was condemned to three months imprisonment for having cheated several times, assisted by accomplices, during law exams. He appeared in the dock of the fifth chamber of the magistrate's court escorted by two policemen.

The parliament's representative of French citizens living in Northern Europe, pleads for a systematic use of anti-plagiarism software. "It is a question of equal chances", insists the Deputy when addressing the Ministers of National and Higher Education on this subject.