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Thomas Lancaster & Robert ClarkeSchool of Computing, Telecommunications and Networks

Birmingham City University

© Lancaster & Clarke 2010

Student CheatingThe International

Perspective

Supporting International Academic Staff and Students

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Traditional View?

Plagiarism from international students

should be expected !6 Slides On This View

China HE Culture

• Didactic Approach to Learning– Students learn by passive taking of notes

• Success dependent on representing taught material– From set texts– Mainly examination based– Critical thinking not rewarded

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http://www.sdaw.info/lecturers/practices_china.htm

India HE Culture

• Curriculum is centrally controlled and static.• Much use of older textbooks

– Limited access to recent texts and journal articles

• Teaching focused on information transfer– Geared towards coaching through exams

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http://www.sdaw.info/lecturers/practices_india.htm

Greece HE Culture

• High participation (60%) and competition for the best places.

• Based around memorisation of facts– Often using textbooks prepared by the course

lecturers

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http://www.sdaw.info/lecturers/practices_greece.htm

Just Three ‘Snapshots’ of International HE

• But there are some common themes…– Do the students realise that reproduction is not the same as

expertise?– Are the students willing to approach and interact with their

lecturers… and their peers?– Are the students willing (or even able) to criticise their lecturers?– Do the students understand the physical mechanics of writing in

an original manner in a foreign language?

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The Lesser Concern?

Plagiarism in any form is not acceptable

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Most institutions already have processes in place to support international students

Support Buzzwords

• Cultural Acclimatisation• Language Support• Critical Thinking Skills• Referencing• Proof Reading

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We must continue the good practice already in place.

The Greater Concern?

Cheating is Evolving

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And Internationalisation is at the Forefront

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Raising Questions…

Cheating from international students

should not be expected !

But It Is Happening

Why Not Just Buy The Degree?

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Examples of Contract Cheating

Postgraduate assignments, dissertations and final year projects are commonly posted.

Final year undergraduate project

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Newcastle(edu.au) Case 2003• A Malaysian education executive wrote to University of Newcastle officials after foreign students

were failed for plagiarism, asking them to review the cases "more generously", an inquiry has been told. ...

It followed an incident in 2002 when 15 students were given zero marks after a marker discovered "serious" plagiarism, including slabs of essays copied from the internet.

He wrote that "if word gets out that it is a very tough course and large numbers of students are failing, then we will have a tough time to recruit students in a highly competitive market".

After the then dean of business, Paul Ryder, ordered that the papers be re-marked, all students were passed with marks up to 84 per cent. ...

The next day, Professor Marimuthu emailed Dr Rugimbana saying: "We really appreciate your efforts to sort out the high failure rates ... As I have explained to you, it is important that we keep the failure rates as low as possible, without compromising the academic standards, of course.“

• http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/08/1094530693563.html

• Investigated by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3512933)

• http://www.slideshare.net/WanMing/the-newcastle-university-plagiarism-scandal13

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When Skilled Immigrants Aren't So Skilled From The Independent Australian, Issue No. 13 (Spring 2007):

Frankly, cheating is cheating. If a student who aspires to be a professional, particularly one aspiring to work in a Western country such as Australia, and can't recognise the difference between submitting his own original work or plagiarising slabs of text and passing it off as his own, then he shouldn't be rewarded by entry into the profession of his choice. A post-graduate student could hardly be unaware of the ethical difference.

The universities talk of counselling students, marking-down their contributions or failing a subject but it is doubtful if few or any students have been stripped of their degrees no matter how blatant their plagiarism. It's all about money rather than academic standards.

Even the Federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop, has belatedly got around to warning of the damage plagiarism could do to the reputation of Australian universities.

Selected text (my italics) from

http://eye-on-immigration.blogspot.com/2009/02/when-skilled-immigrants-arent-so.html

Toulons, France April 2009• Suspicions of mass fraud rock French universities • Prosecutors in Marseilles have launched an investigation into claims that

hundreds of Chinese students bribed officials at a university in Toulon to obtain fake diplomas. Other French universities could be involved in the fraud.

• According to French daily Le Monde, the fraud began in the 2004-2005 academic year when a Chinese student, who was struggling to get his diploma, began offering bribes to one of the institute’s employees. The student was subsequently awarded his diploma.

•  The scheme was then extended to the student's friends. According to a source quoted by Le Monde, the fake diplomas cost around €2,700. Last year, one student alone sold close to 300 diplomas.

• http://www.france24.com/en/20090416-suspicions-mass-fraud-french-universities-chinese-students-toulon?pop=TRUE

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8004911.stm

“The case of the Purloined Paper”

• This exam paper was posted onto Rentacoder ahead of the actual exam• The exam had been sent by email to an overseas franchise college• Somehow the student had got hold of a copy• Staff in the UK changed the case study used in the exam paper• As it was an “open book exam” the student turned up with notes relating to the wrong case study• Student was found guilty and excluded from the course

• Need to ensure that security and integrity measures are carried out in all locations

Is Proof-Reading Cheating?

This is a German student writing in English.

Is a request for proof-reading and correcting cheating?

Post-Soviet Political Economy

I need somebody to proof read an academic paper,

you should correct spelling and grammar mistakes

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Google Translate

http://translate.google.com

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English -> German

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German -> English

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English -> English

Translation + Proof Reading = ???

Three China Examples

• Organised cheating on college entrances exams ‘rampant’.– 12 year olds catch 2.5 times more cheaters than

adults.

• Fake conferences accept any (paid) paper.• Ghostwriting, both for students and for academic

publications, is rife– Couple this with the danger of translated text.

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http://copy-shake-paste.blogspot.com

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A Step Further: Contract CheatingAssignments set in Greek.

Work is posted in English to be translated into Greek before submission.

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and concludes

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Trace evidence (in Word file) shows source of assignments posted by this person.

Work history shows that requesting work set in Greek has been carried out successfully several times before.

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We Must Address The Pressures on Staff and Students

• Targets for completion rates• High Fees for OS students

– Possible disincentive to deal with cheats– Students under pressure to succeed

• Students may breach visa conditions– If they are failed students– Effect more severe than a home student

• Gaining qualifications to gain residency points– Particularly postgraduate qualifications– Economic pressures on both student and universities

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International Cheating Is An Issue

Any Questions ?

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ReferencesLinks to more information on Contract Cheating can be found through the entry on Wikipedia:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_cheating

This includes links to the HEA workshop in held in March 2008 at BCU and the ASCE workshop held at Oxford Brookes in June 2009.

thomas.lancaster@bcu.ac.uk

robert.clarke@bcu.ac.uk

School of CTN, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom