Search Page

The Minister of Education announced that cheats selling their services to Australian university students would face two years imprisonment or fines of up to AU$100,000. Students who cheat will also be subject to their institutions’ own academic integrity policies and sanctions. The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency will be empowered to request legal measures to force internet service providers and search engines to block cheating websites.

In an interview with a local daily newspaper, Malaysia’s Education Minister said that efforts are underway to do a large-scale change in the world of academia. A review of the Statuary Bodies (Discipline and Surcharge) Act 605 to exclude academics from several rules governing civil servants will be carried out. This involves issues of academic freedom, integrity, plagiarism, and others.

According to the International Center for Academic Integrity, about 68 % of undergraduate students and about 43 % of graduate students admit to cheating on tests or in written assignments. Several studies point to a similar problem in high school. Technology has made it easier to cheat in exams and on writing assignments, but it is also making it increasingly easier to be caught.

The number of students disciplined for academic misconduct at the University of Auckland rose to 195 last year, from 187 the year before. Cheating incidents reported have highlighted concerns about the reuse of assignments and the fact that ghostwriters undermine school integrity. According to the Tertiary Education Union president, university bosses should support teaching staff to implement the best anti-cheating measures such as changing assignments frequently and requiring students to submit their work through detection service Turnitin.

In order to strengthen the integrity of the examination results, the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board arrested no fewer than 100 candidates nationwide for various examination malpractices. Among the people arrested was a candidate who registered 64 times to ‘ghost write’ exam for 64 candidates since the exam runs for seven days with an average of three shifts per day per centre.