WALES: Calls for universities to unite on plagiarism

There have been calls for Welsh universities to be more consistent in dealing with students who plagiarise, writes Polly March for BBC News, as new figures show that between 2008 and 2011, 927 students from six Welsh universities copied work.

At Cardiff 6% of essays checked over six years contained 75% or more copied material. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers said it was disturbing that a "determined hardcore" was still involved. Its Director Philip Dixon said: "It's disturbing, but the overall figures are quite small and amount to students who are just lazy...I think universities in Wales are doing a good job, but we do need a code of conduct across the higher education sector as to how we deal with plagiarism."

Dr Mike Reddy, an independent advisor to the Plagiarism Advisory Service, the academic arm of Turnitin, the computer programme that detects copied material, said awareness had improved and detection rates had increased thanks to new technology. "I think the questions of intent have to be proved and separated from inadvertent plagiarism and poor referencing, but universities have to be consistent in their approach," he said.
Full report on the BBC News site