By Gavin Mackintosh-
University bosses in the Uk have written to the education secretary calling for so-called essay mill companies to be banned.
University heads are concerned about a long practise by many students in which they pay for bespoke, original assignments which does not reflect their own ability. They say these essays cannot easily be detected by anti-plagiarism software.
Heads want these essay-writing services should be targeted rather than those who pay for their services.
Such services undermine the integrity of higher education and are unfair to honest, diligent students, according to bosses.
Universities minister Sam Gyimah said the government was working to “bear down” on the problem – and added that “legislative options are not off the table”.
Students who submit a custom-made essay as their own are committing a form of plagiarism known as contract cheating. Under University rules, such students can be thrown off the University course.The letter has been signed by 46 vice-chancellors and heads of higher education bodies, some of whom represent the UK’s largest and prestigious universities. Their aim is to ensure that students hand in work that they have done themselves, not work done by somebody else which gives a false impression it was done by the student.
The plan to target essay writing services may mean getting Parliament to legislate against the existence and advertising of such companies online or anywhere, putting them out of business in the process.The vice-chancellors say making the services illegal would stop them operating out of the UK and allow them to be removed from online search engine findings.
A recent survey of students around the world by Swansea University found about 15% had cheated in the past four years, up from an average of 3.5% over the past 40 years. The survey also suggested 31 million students globally had paid someone else to undertake their work.
In the letter, the University heads call on the government to commit to introducing legislation to ban the provision and advertising of essay mills before the end of this Parliament. The call is positive and will go a long way to ensuring students hand in work that reflect their own ability, instead of passing up work they haven’t done themselves.