What can universities do to stop students cheating?

Cheating among students has reached unprecedented levels worldwide. Even top universities have raised the alarm: the 2012 Harvard cheating scandal; a significant increase in academic misconduct among Britain's Russell Group universities from 2014 to 2017; ongoing cheating among student athletes to enter or to stay at universities in the United States; unauthorised exam assignment sharing in Switzerland; contract cheating in Australia; and plagiarism in many Eastern European countries are just a few examples of a problem that is becoming harder to ignore.

It should be noted, however, that all of these cases of academic misconduct were caught and identified as such, so this might only be the tip of the iceberg – and the real situation might be dramatically worse.


Some remedies at the exam level

Faculty members should consider the heritage of students and take into account their previous educational backgrounds, especially those of international students, when designing assessments. In some academic cultures, students are not required to write several academic papers at once or they might have less experience of working in a group.

Some cultures might even expect students to reproduce new materials rather than apply them.

International students – who are often required to have B2 (CEFR) or mid-advanced (ACTFL) language proficiency for enrolment – should be given some allowances compared to native speakers; even the usage of a single language dictionary or just a note to a grader would be helpful.

Some affordances should also be granted to domestic students who have reading or writing disabilities. Several versions of the same exam or randomised seating may prevent copying from a neighbour; a large number of external proctors to supervise examinations might be an effective remedy as well.

Courses on academic learning and writing as well as on academic integrity might increase students’ awareness of ethical issues significantly.

Text-matching software, already widely used at many universities, is a useful tool to protect standards of academic integrity. It should be mentioned, however, that even modern software tools can identify only some forms of plagiarism, such as verbatim copying.

Plagiarism from other languages and-or professional ghost-writing often remain undetectable. In some academic cultures, exam assignments might be shared or sold before the exams, which might also remain undetected.

Universities should develop codes of conduct and other internal policies and procedures that clearly describe areas of academic misconduct and possible consequences of violations such as a reduced grade, a classification of ‘inadequate’ or other disciplinary actions, ranging up to removal from the university.

Students, however, should always have the right to appeal and explain their behaviour. In many universities, student unions, ethical commissions or other committees with student representatives often play the role of ombudsmen.

Why are some universities successful, but some not?

Some universities are successful in preventing and controlling academic corruption among students, while others are less so.

The reasons for this might vary. Some measures might require additional financial resources, such as the use of text-matching software, which might be too costly for some universities, that might only utilise it at the final thesis level when it may be too late to deter students from cheating. Too many regulations and too much control might not be appreciated by already overloaded faculty members and university administrations.

In order to implement all these measures successfully, however, universities should serve as role models. If they just declare their integrity, but do not practise it, they might not be able to expect it from students.

What is necessary to combat corruption among students?

Combating corruption might be a challenge, but especially with regard to student education, it is crucial. Young people in their last formative years spend the majority of their time in educational institutions: what they learn, hear and observe about corruption, real or perceived, its acceptance and the inability of leadership to mitigate it, will highly likely affect their professional lives.

Cheating students might grow to become cheating employees and may even ‘encourage’ corruption at the organisational level. Cheating students will hamper economic and social development in their countries and globally.

By acknowledging the severity of academic misconduct involving students, and by allocating all the resources necessary to mitigate it, universities might succeed in preventing corruption on their own campuses and beyond.

Elena Denisova-Schmidt is a research fellow in the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College in the United States, and a research associate at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland.