Universities struggle to quell student cheating

Over the past three years, more than 45,000 students at 80 institutions have been hauled before college authorities and found guilty of ‘academic misconduct’ ranging from bringing crib-sheets or mobile phones into exams to paying private firms to write essays for them, write Brian Brady and Kunal Dutta for The Independent on Sunday.

Some 16,000 cases were recorded in the past year alone, as university chiefs spent millions on software to identify work reproduced from published material or simply cut and pasted from the internet. But officials last week warned that they were fighting a losing battle against hi-tech advances – which means it is becoming increasingly difficult to detect the cheats.

University bosses blame the financial crisis for raising the stakes in higher education, making many students willing to do anything to secure good grades – or just to stay on their degree courses. A number of experts claim that Tony Blair's flagship policy of increasing access to higher education has left thousands of young people starting university without all the practical and intellectual skills required.
Full report on The Independent site