Criminal Grades? Contract cheating and student exploitation in Higher Education

Kjellgren, R., Hamilton-Smith, N. and Fraser, A. (2022) Criminal Grades? Contract cheating and student exploitation in Higher Education. Documentation. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research.

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Publisher's URL: https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/SCCJR-Criminal-Grades_FINAL.pdf

Abstract

Recent reports in the UK media highlight that students in higher education are increasingly outsourcing their assignments to third-party service providers (Newton 2018). In academic discourses, the submission of assignments completed by a third-party, whether a friend, family member, or a commercial enterprise, is often referred to as ‘contract cheating’. Whilst commentators, both in academia and beyond, have referred to contract cheating as reaching “epidemic” proportions (Turner 2017), there is currently little empirical evidence to substantiate such assertions (Lancaster and Clarke 2016; Newton 2018) Responding to student vulnerability, contract cheating, and more widely, academic misconduct, requires a holistic approach. These are highly complex issues spanning a spectrum of poor academic practices to intentional attempts to procure bespoke assignments and submit them for academic credits (Thomas and Scott 2016). This research is concerned with examining some of these complexities in relation to higher education in Scotland, and more broadly, the trends and processes related to student vulnerability, misconduct, and contract cheating. In particular, the aims of this scoping study are to: Understand the motivations for using, and experiences of, contract cheating in the context of higher education. Understand the relationship between the contract cheating market and the emergence of explicitly illegal forms of exploitation against students. To scope out possible indicators and attributes of more exploitative and high-risk provision in the essay mills market. Understand how the harms to students caused by criminality within a contract cheating context can be reduced, and how more widely the presence of criminality in contract cheating markets can be leveraged to undermine the continued operation of these markets.

Item Type:Research Reports or Papers (Documentation)
Status:Published
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Fraser, Professor Alistair
Authors: Kjellgren, R., Hamilton-Smith, N., and Fraser, A.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
Publisher:Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
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