University students could be fined or face criminal charges for plagarism

Looks like you won’t be able to pay your way after all

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A new proposal that is currently being considered by the government says that University students could be fined or be given a criminal record for plagiarised essays and dissertations. Students caught cheating could face criminal action for buying essays online due to fears that the growing essay industry endangers the quality of a person’s degree.

The Daily Telegraph revealed last month that more than 20,000 students attending British universities are paying up to £6,750 for essays to submit as part of their degree. There are over 100 sites offering online essay services.

The Department of Education has now revealed that discussions with universities about how to remove the problem will soon be underway. Punishments may include fines, academic blacklists, and even criminal records for those that submit a professionally written essay as their own work.

Despite the use of plagiarism software, buying an essay online and submitting as original work means that examiners and markers cannot prevent plagiarism in this way. The new guidance is set to be in force from September.

Universities Minister Jo Johnson commented: “This form of cheating is unacceptable and every university should have strong policies and sanctions in place to detect and deal with it.”

He continued: “Essay mill websites threaten to undermine the high quality reputation of a UK degree so it is vital that the sector work together to address this in a consistent and robust way.”

Many, like Dame Julia Goodfellow, President of Universities UK, have welcomed this announcement with open arms, in the hopes that these new guidelines will end such plagarism and build on the efforts that universities are currently working on.