Universities are being urged to block websites that sell essays, identify cheating “hot spots” and consider publishing data on breaches of academic integrity.
Australia’s higher education watchdog – Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency – has unveiled new guidelines to tackle the issue. TEQSA chief executive Anthony McClaran said that breaches of academic integrity had broad implications and this needed to stop right away. He said cheating put the reputation of Australia’s higher education system at risk and could endanger employers and the integrity of qualifications.
A recent survey by University of South Australia associate professor Tracey Bretag, who also helped with the guidelines, found that six per cent of Australian students engaged in cheating; and that 68 percent of academics had encountered what they suspected was cheating.