On Thursday 10 March we held a seminar to address the worrying spread of essay mills and the explosion of contract cheating companies. This important event was a resounding success with attendees from across Scotland, England and Rep of Ireland, representing Colleges, Universities and sector agencies. Our College is at the forefront of the campaign in Scotland and is leading the Tertiary sector in plans to develop a sector-wide Academic Integrity Network.
Our Student President, Bernie Savage, has consistently called for a four nations approach to tackle this problem, and VP Student Experience, Dr Claire Carney said that everyone needs to own this growing problem as it now sadly plagues every institution.
It was pointed out by Sue Hackett from the Irish Tertiary Quality Agency that any institution that thinks they don’t have a problem with contract cheating, is simply either ignoring the problem or unable to detect this problem at a course team level. The presentations from the event are now available through our Learning and Teaching Academy.
Our speakers on the day included:-
- Gareth Crossman, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education - discussed the challenges and approaches to contract cheating in colleges and in UK higher education as a whole.
- Sue Hackett and Mairead Boland, Irish Quality Agency (QQI) - described the approach Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) has taken to contract cheating and academic misconduct in Ireland, with a parallel approach to training, provision of information and education.
- Bernadette Savage, Student President, City of Glasgow College - presented an overview of the work done by the Students' Association to raise awareness of academic integrity and essay mills and their plans moving forward.