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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.

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.

Sexual harassment in universities is to be investigated by the National Union of Students, which is conducting the UK’s first survey of staff sexual misconduct in higher education. Students will be asked whether they have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct by staff and about their experience of reporting this behaviour to their institution. The research project is being carried out by the NUS women’s campaign. Researchers will consider professional boundaries and examine what types of behaviour students are comfortable dealing with from higher education staff.