Essay cheating at universities an 'open secret'

A BBC investigation has uncovered claims that essay cheating remains widespread at UK universities despite the introduction of a law designed to stop it.

Since April 2022, it has been illegal to provide essays for students in post-16 education in England. But so far there have been no prosecutions.

The BBC has spoken to a former lecturer who describes essay cheating as an "open secret" and to a businessman who claims to have made millions from selling "model answer" essays to university students.

Universities UK, which represents 141 institutions, said there were "severe penalties" for students caught submitting work that was not their own.

One international student said the opportunity to study a master's degree at a British university was a dream come true.

Alia, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, said she and her 20 overseas classmates struggled with writing long essays during their course at the University of Lincoln – and many soon stopped engaging.

"It was both their lack of knowledge in English language and the fact that they did not care for the lesson and were talking to each other or playing on their phones," she said.

According to Alia, many of the students turned to essay-writing companies, which were easy to find online and charged about £20 for 1,000 words.

She was determined to do her own work, but said she was laughed at and called stupid by some classmates who told her: "You are losing sleep, missing your meals and getting so tired – just pay someone."

Alia claimed that by the second module, about a third of her cohort missed every class and "some would just stand behind the class door, submit their presence and leave".

It is not illegal to cheat at university, but since 2022 it has been a criminal offence to provide, arrange or advertise cheating services for financial gain to students taking a qualification at any post-16 educational institution in England.

The BBC found dozens of examples of companies continuing to advertise their essay-writing services to UK students, through their own websites and on social media.

However, both the Crown Prosecution Service and the Department for Education, which have powers to prosecute, told the BBC they had no recorded offences reaching a first hearing in a magistrate's court under the Skills and Post-16 Education Act.

Barclay Littlewood, who is from Huddersfield but based in Dubai, says he has made millions from the industry.

Mr Littlewood was working as a barrister when he started writing essays for other people in 2003. His company now claims to use a global network of 3,000 freelance writers – some of whom he says are lecturers – covering topics including law, business and sociology.

He said his prices started at £200, though larger orders for doctorate or masters-level essays could cost "up to £20,000".

When challenged by the BBC, he denied breaking English law, claiming his essays were a "model answer" on which students could base their own work.

Mr Littlewood said he had now developed his own artificial intelligence, drawing on hundreds of thousands of essays written by his company. This meant customers could have a university-level, "guaranteed grade" essay in minutes.

The BBC arranged for Steve Foster, a former lecturer, to mark an essay we generated through Mr Littlewood's tool, claiming to be of a 2:1 degree-grade standard.

Mr Foster taught English language at the International Study Centre, affiliated to the University of Lincoln, for eight years, before lecturing for four years at the university's business school.

He said he could tell the essay was not written by a student because there was no "human touch", but it was of a 2:1 standard and had "no mistakes whatsoever".

The scale of essay cheating was an "open secret" and one of the reasons he left the sector in 2024, Mr Foster said.

On one occasion, he saw a receipt from an essay-writing service fall out of a paper as his colleague marked it.

Mr Foster said he believed cheating was more prevalent among international students because some did not have good enough English language skills.

He described one overseas student scoring 2% in an exam and 99% in an essay.

"When you get that kind of disparity in the marks, it's clear the student has been cheating," he said.

"When you see a student who clearly struggled with the language and they submit an essay which William Shakespeare would have been proud of, then immediately that's going to arouse suspicion."

Mr Foster claimed many teachers "turned a blind eye" to cheating, which had allowed the problem to "snowball".

"Would you want to travel over a bridge that's been designed by one of these students?" he asked. "Would you like to put this accountant in charge of your business's operations?"

In a statement, Universities UK said the Home Office set the level of English required as part of the conditions for student visas.

"All universities have codes of conduct that include severe penalties for students found to be submitting work that is not their own," the statement added.

Universities have become increasingly reliant on higher fees from international students in recent years, as tuition fees from UK students have not kept up with inflation.

Earlier this year, a report warned more than four in 10 universities would soon be in financial difficulty, mostly because of a drop in the number of international students coming to the UK.

In the most recent year of data (2023-24), there were 730,000 non-UK students enrolled at UK universities, making up 25% of the total student population.

The BBC submitted Freedom of Information requests to every university in the UK, asking how many formal academic misconduct investigations into essay cheating had taken place in the academic year ending summer 2024, and how many involved international students.

Of the 53 higher education institutions that provided usable responses, 48 reported that international students were disproportionately represented in academic misconduct investigations.

Penalties for cheating can range from a warning or being awarded zero marks, to suspension or exclusion.

Universities UK declined to comment on the possible reasons for the high proportion of international students being investigated. But one university told the BBC it was likely because many misconduct cases were about poor practice – such as bad referencing – rather than intentional misconduct.

The University of Lincoln was one of the most extreme examples, with 78% of 387 investigations involving non-UK students, who make up only 22% of the institution's student population.

A spokesperson for the university said academic misconduct was a "sector-wide challenge". Alleged breaches were "thoroughly investigated and addressed through our established processes, with appropriate responses where misconduct is confirmed".

Higher education institutions run essays through programmes such as Turnitin, which are designed to detect plagiarism and false authorship.

Annie Chechitelli, chief product officer at Turnitin, said the rise of AI had made detection and deterrence "more critical than ever".

In more than one in 10 papers reviewed since 2023, Turnitin said its detection tool found AI wrote at least 20% of the material.

Turnitin said essay mills were still popular because of a growing demand for services that evade AI detection - preying on students' fear of being caught.

Eve Alcock, the director of public affairs at the Quality Assurance Agency, which aims to improve standards in higher education, said essay mills remained a "threat to academic integrity across the UK".

She encouraged universities to consider moving away from essay-based assessments in response to the rise of generative AI tools, to allow for more "authentic" assessments.

Alia, who has now finished her course, said she felt disillusioned by her experience.

"I have learned a lot myself, and achieved a lot, but how is the employer going to see the difference between someone like me and these people?" she asked.

"When the grades were released, for most of the modules they got better grades and were laughing at me.

"I am not proud of this degree anymore."