Huge Rise In Plagiarism On UK University Applications; India Tops The List (image-pixabay)
The number of students plagiarizing personal statements in their undergraduate application to British universities has been reported double last year. Notably, the highest number of plagiarized applications has come from India.
The countries from where the most number of plagiarized personal statements has emerged outside UK after India are, Nigeria, Romania and China, according to Universities and College Admission Service (UCAS).
As per the data given by a spokesperson for UCAS, there were 7,300 applications flagged for plagiarism in 2023 and 3,599 were flagged in 2021. Out of 7,300 applications, 765 were submitted by Indians, reports Times of India (TOI)
The Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), the University of Greenwich and Birmingham City University flagged of the highest number of applicants.
Sander Kristal, UCAS chief executive said, “The personal statement is exactly that; personal. Applicants must defend themselves, in their own words…”. He then added that UCAS fraud and verification service will check for the similarities in the personal statements and if detects any, the application will be flagged of. Usage of AI tools such as ChatGPT for writing the application will also be considered cheating, he said.
A recent undergraduate from MMU while speaking to TOI said that some Indian who gets accepted in the Universities shares their personal statement with others who wishes to apply for the same course. Due to lack of confidence, some opt to use the same with slight changes for their application. The student also added that there are agents in India who offer help with personal statements with a fee.
Another one stated that there are tonnes of organization in India and China called educational consultants helping the students with their own personal statements.
There are several advertisements spotted on social media from companies offering help to students to do research work, essays, dissertations for a fee.
In order to filter such malpractices, Sanam Arora, founder and chair, NISAU UK, said that at NISAU, they were warning the students against using such unscrupulous assignments helpers for years. “There is a whole murky ecosystem and that is why I want the migration advisory committee, which is reviewing the graduate route, to make sure they review the agreements that universities have with agents and the whole issue of how education is sold of the United Kingdom abroad,” she added.
