oxford-uni-cheating

Number of students investigated for cheating at Oxford Uni up by 120 per cent in two years

Over half of all cases came from a single department


The number of students who have been investigated for cheating on academic work at Oxford Uni has skyrocketed by 120 per cent, compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Over half of all investigated cases of cheating came from a single academic department.

Despite the sharp increase, a spokesperson for the University of Oxford dismissed the figures as “a very small fraction of the 55,000 exams sat”.

An investigation by The Oxford Mail looked into cases of cheating, exam malpractice and plagiarism between 2017 and and 2022.

During the five year period, there were a total of 266 investigations into suspicious work submitted to the university.

While there were just 35 investigations into cheating in the 2018-19 academic year, there were 77 in the year finishing in 2021- an increase of 120 per cent.

There were 146 cheating investigations in the Social Sciences department alone, representing 55 per cent of all the cases over the five year period.

A spokesperson for the University of Oxford said: “In the 2021-22 academic year, the majority of Oxford exams took place in-person.

“The University is committed to the highest standards of assessments, regardless of the format they take.”

Featured image: Shutterstock / SeventyFour

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