Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east uni students caught cheating nearly 900 times in past five years

The figures, which were released under a Freedom of Information request, relate to people studying courses at Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen University.
The figures, which were released under a Freedom of Information request, relate to people studying courses at Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen University.

Students have been caught cheating at north-east universities nearly 900 times in the past five years.

The figures, which were released under a Freedom of Information request, relate to people studying courses at Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen University.

At Robert Gordon University, 518 people were caught passing off other people’s work as their own, including 103 this year, the highest it has been for three years. And 23 students were caught cheating in exams.

At Aberdeen University, 304 people were caught plagiarising coursework, including 69 this year, while 49 cheated during exams.

A spokesman for Robert Gordon University said: “As an institution, we take cases of academic misconduct very seriously.

“Exams are robustly invigilated using an experienced team of trained external invigilators. A senior invigilator is assigned to every exam, along with supporting invigilators who are briefed on how to look for and manage instances of suspected misconduct.

“Coursework marking is undertaken by an individual first marker, after which, to ensure that marking is fair, valid, reliable and consistent and that the standards applied are appropriate for the level assessed, we always have a clear process in place for double or second marking. Samples of work are reviewed by an independent external examiner.

“We also use specialist software which can identify any duplication, but in all instances this is referred back for academic judgement. Academic judgement is always necessary to decide whether the software has detected a deliberate attempt to obtain an unfair advantage or whether, in the particular circumstances, the detection is due to some limited weakness in the student’s academic referencing skills.”

An Aberdeen University spokesman said: “We take a firm approach towards cheating and plagiarism in exams or coursework, which may result in disciplinary action as outlined in our Code of Practice on Student Discipline (Academic).

“The university publishes guidance for students to raise awareness, develop their own information skills and take steps to avoid plagiarism. In addition, we subscribe to text matching software that compares students’ assignments with online sources. This software is used across the institution to ensure academic integrity in student writing.

“While the overwhelming majority of our students act honestly, those who do not risk their personal integrity, future career prospects or the possibility of not being awarded their degree.”