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Headteachers and university lecturers are concerned that ChatGPT, which can provide convincing human-sounding answers to exam questions, could spark a wave of cheating in homework and exam coursework. Users can ask questions ranging from simple factual queries to absurd requests and receive coherent responses written in natural English. The output of ChatGPT hasn’t triggered any conventional plagiarism detectors since the text it produces hasn’t been written before, leaving assessors struggling to work out how to identify cheaters.

According to Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, over 4,300 candidates were penalised over cheating this year during A-level and GCSE exams. 2,000 candidates caught in possession of a mobile phone were given mark reductions, while about 1,500 students received warnings. Moreover 800 candidates were penalised by having their exam voided. Ofqual also published its report into the conduct of the 2022 exam series, which noted that 14 schools and colleges reported cyberattacks aimed at accessing exam administration software or student work.

167 final-year medical students at the University of Oxford will have to resit the exam after alleged misconduct in a clinical examination. The number of investigations related to academic misconduct such as cheating, malpractice and plagiarism has increased from 35 in 2018-19, to 68 in 2019-20 and 77 in 2020-21. The university said that of the investigations conducted in 2020-21, only eight cases of alleged academic misconduct were upheld as an offence, representing a small proportion of the 55,000 exams sat, of which the vast majority were open-book exams.

Increasing numbers of students in British universities are buying and selling essays. Research from 2018 shows that one in seven students have paid someone to write an essay for them. In 2021, The Guardian reported that the number of requests sent to a leading ‘homework help’ website rose by 196% between 2019 and 2020. In 2021, one private tutor was offered hundreds of pounds to take students’ online exams for them. Another agreed to write a dissertation for £3,000.

The Office for Students (OfS) has published a circular detailing minimum acceptable student outcomes which set thresholds for drop-out rates, course completion and graduate employment that universities and colleges will need to meet to avoid further investigation. According to Ofs, over 60,000 students on full-time undergraduate courses are currently enrolled at institutions in England that could be sanctioned for low quality and poor value for money.

According to the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, there are over 1,000 essay mills in operation in UK universities. The government announced that offering essay-writing services to students for a fee will become a criminal offence under plans to tackle cheating. Universities welcomed this decision and introduced codes of conduct with severe penalties for submitting work that is not a student's own.

A survey on plagiarism conducted by Copyleaks collected responses from 31,000 colleges and 20,000 high school students worldwide. The study shows that the largest increase in plagiarized submissions was recorded in the Netherlands, with 26% of cases before COVID compared to 45% after the pandemic, i.e. a total increase of 19%. This was followed by France (37% before vs. 49% after, i.e. - a 12% jump), closely followed by India (42% before vs. 53% after; i.e.- an 11% jump). The UK, Canada and Germany all saw a 4% increase in plagiarism cases.

The “proliferation” of essay mills over the past 5 years has led to an increase in the number of plagiarism cases. Last year, 338 cases were reported by universities in the North, with the majority of cases at Aberdeen University and Robert Gordon University. 1,000 essay mills companies are currently operating across the UK. Some are allegedly involved in exploiting graduates overseas where they are forced to work 12-hour shifts producing essays for as little as $1 an hour.

As part of the government's crackdown on degree fraud, and to safeguard the international reputation of UK universities, 85 fake UK university websites have been shut down since 2015. Websites have also been found selling fake degree certificates from real universities: a BBC investigation in 2014 found a website selling the University of Kent for £500, which were described as for “novelty purposes, or as a replacement for lost diplomas”. Employers are encouraged to carefully vet the qualifications of any new employees as “The only way to stop these operators is to remove the demand”.

A Cal State LA student allegedly denounced the actions of her classmates in a discussion forum on Canvas. Using the GroupMe app, students participated in cheating such as sharing answers and taking credit for the work of others. According to the Vice president for student life and dean of students, the University investigates all alleged acts of dishonesty and will hold students accountable if found responsible.