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BU's efforts to combat 'contract cheating' featured in the Times Higher Education

13 June 2013

Schemes planned by BU's business school to avoid plagiarism and the use of essay-writing websites have been featured in the Times Higher Education.

Associate Dean (Student Experience) Mark Ridolfo told reporter Lizzie Gibney that 'contract cheating' - where websites write bespoke essays for students - was difficult to detect and prove.

To combat the use of such methods, Mark said that they were looking into alternative methods of assessment - including more exams rather than coursework, and personalising assignments to the course to make contract cheating more difficult.

He added that contract cheating was affecting many universities, and that companies offering the services had begun to market more aggressively.

He said: "I think all institutions are looking at how to deal with this problem and I suspect they will, like us, be looking at a combination of prevention, detection and penalties."

Read the Times Higher Education article in full

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