policy & reform
campusreview.com.au
Beat the cheats
Proposed contract cheating
legislation a good first step
but more action needed.
By Natasha Abrahams
C
ontract cheating refers to students
outsourcing their assessments
to professional cheating services
or through arrangements with friends
or peers. A typical example would be a
student paying for an essay which is then
submitted as their own work.
As classroom time has been successively
cut down, teaching staff have fewer
opportunities to get to know their students’
abilities. Some courses have been moved
fully online, resulting in no face-to-face time
with a tutor. This shift away from class time
makes it difficult for teaching staff to identify
where a student may need additional
support and determine if an assignment is
a student’s own work. The lack of individual
attention given to university students makes
it easy for cheating behaviours to proliferate
undetected. Many universities use plagiarism
detection software, but by its nature this
cannot pick up custom essays that students
have purchased.
The majority of students do not cheat.
Seeing peers effectively purchase a higher
grade is frustrating and unfair. Students
are also concerned about the impact of
a cheating culture on the value of their
education. If cheating goes undetected or
unpunished, but is widely known about,
it is a threat to the reputation of degree
programs and even entire universities.
Students who are caught cheating or
assisting others to cheat can be penalised
through internal university policies. However,
universities have no authority to address
professional cheating services. Consequently,
these services can blatantly advertise to the
student community. The chief executive of
the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards
Agency, Anthony McClaran, spoke about
this at the agency’s conference last year.
Contract cheating companies had boldly
affixed poster advertisements outside the
agency’s office. Ironically, the agency was
unable to do anything about the contract
cheating company because there are
currently no regulations in this space.
A proposal by the Higher Education
Standards Panel seeks to bring this
situation under control by making the
provision or advertisement of contract
cheating services an offence. This would
not criminalise students for purchasing
cheating services – any identified cases of
students cheating would continue to be
dealt with through university policies. The
legislation is intended to target professional
outfits rather than individual students. If
implemented, this legislation will be an
important step in promoting academic
integrity in Australian universities.
However, more action is needed in
order to reduce cheating at universities.
Most instances of cheating do not involve
the exchange of money and so will not
be impacted by the legislation. A study on
contract cheating from the University of
South Australia investigated factors that
correlate to higher cheating rates. The
researchers found that dissatisfaction with
the teaching environment and perceptions
of there being many opportunities to cheat
were both implicated in cheating behaviours.
Legislation will help reduce perceptions
of opportunities to cheat. Other measures
are needed to increase student satisfaction
with the teaching environment. Successive
cost-cutting in universities has eroded
the support available to students and has
consequences for academic integrity.
If students feel like they are receiving
a high-quality education and adequate
support, they will be more motivated
to engage with their coursework and
complete their assignments without
resorting to cheating. Classroom time is a
necessity for students to have discussions
and engage with their course material.
Drop-in office hours among teaching staff
provide an opportunity for students to
seek one-on-one help. Academic support
services, particularly for international
students, provide that extra guidance some
students need to complete university-level
assessments. These are basic components
to a university education that, at many
institutions, have been the victim of cost-
cutting measures.
Another crucial aspect is the existence
of independent student advocacy services.
Advocacy is a necessary part of the university
infrastructure but many universities do not
provide funding for student associations
to run independent advocacy services,
meaning that entire student populations miss
out. When students are in difficult situations,
such as being caught cheating, a student
advocacy service can assist the student to
navigate university policies and procedures,
ensure that they are being treated fairly, and
connect them to academic support and
other relevant services.
Student advocacy services can also assist
universities with prevention. As student
advocacy officers are on the frontline of
handling academic misconduct cases, they
gain an understanding of how and why
students cheat, and implement prevention
efforts. For example, at Monash University,
the Monash Postgraduate Association’s
advocacy arm designed a program to
reduce exam cheating.
They identified the subjects in which
cheating was more common. At the
first lecture of each of these subjects,
they delivered a presentation on types
of academic misconduct and its
consequences, and encouraged students
to seek academic help early. The number
of academic misconduct cases from the
targeted subjects was then seen to reduce.
A production-line university with
underfunded services is fertile ground
for cheating. Universities must invest
in delivering a high-quality education
with academic support and fully funded
advocacy services, in order to promote
academic integrity and diminish cheating. ■
Natasha Abrahams is the national president
of the Council of Australian Postgraduate
Associations, the peak representative
body for postgraduate students.
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