QAA Takes Actions Against Essay Mills Helping Students Cheat

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), responsible for safeguarding standards and improving the quality of UK higher education, has turned its attention to Essay Mills and students caught cheating.

Following QAA's investigation into essay mills last year, universities minister Jo Johnson MP asked QAA to work on measures to combat so-called 'contract cheating', where students pay a company or individual to produce work they then pass off as their own.

The QAA has launched new guidance setting out best practice around promoting academic integrity in higher education, through tackling students' use of third parties' services in order to cheat. It covers the use of essay mills and other forms of contract cheating. The guidance outlines the issues and sets out the steps providers can take to deal with them.

The new guidance recommends:

• clear information for students on the risks of cheating, including academic misconduct being reported to relevant professional bodies
• support for students to develop independent study skills, including academic writing
• using a range of assessment methods to limit opportunities for cheating
• blocking essay mill sites and taking action against essay mill advertising on campus
• smarter detection, including new software and greater familiarity with students' personal styles and capabilities
• appropriate support for whistleblowing - to protect accuser as well as accused
• student involvement on academic misconduct policies and panels.

QAA chief executive Douglas Blackstock commented "It is important that students are not duped by these unscrupulous essay companies."

"Paying someone else to write essays is wrong and could damage their career. Education providers should take appropriate action to tackle and prevent this kind of abuse."

"QAA supports a consistent approach among higher education providers in tackling the problem. We are also asking universities and colleges to record incidents of this and other kinds of cheating, to help build a clearer picture of the scale of the problem in UK higher education."