Universities: Contract Cheating

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Wednesday 11th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

There are a number of questions there, but I say at the outset that it is often made clear when individuals sign on for courses that they have to be aware of the punishments for students who deliberately cheat. They include being sent down from university. That is made very clear. Some universities, including Nottingham and Oxford, demand an authorship signature from people submitting essays so that if something has gone wrong and they are seen to be cheating, it is down to them and they have signed for it.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

My Lords, are the Government aware that the Australian Government have invested millions of dollars in supporting work to combat academic fraud? As my noble friend said, this is an international problem. What international co-operation are the Government considering to tackle this issue?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

We are certainly aware of what some other countries are doing. For example, New Zealand legislated for such offences, as the noble Baroness may know, but there have been no prosecutions so far. Australia, the country that she mentioned, is adopting the same process as us—that is, it is looking at non-legislative guidance. There is no one way forward, so we are keen to continue with the process that we are undertaking.