What are the challenges surrounding contract cheating in a Business School environment and how can these be addressed? This presentation, delivered for the Birmingham Business School (part of the University of Birmingham) on 17 June 2021, explores the situation, including examples of the types of assignment and groupwork activities that are at risk of academic integrity breaches.

1. Contract Cheating –
Addressing The Business
School Challenge
Dr Thomas Lancaster
Imperial College London
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk | @DrLancaster | #contractcheating
Presentation for Birmingham Business School
Thursday 17 June, 2021

2. Welcome

3. London
South Bank
University
Birmingham
City
University
(University
of Central
England)
Coventry
University
Staffordshire
University
Imperial
College
London
(timeline not to scale)
My Background – Computer Science

4. Some of my recent activity
surrounding academic integrity

5. Some Questions For
Today’s Session
• What is contract cheating and
why does it matter?
• What does contract cheating
mean in a Business School
environment?
• How can contract cheating be
addressed?

6. Recommended
Resource
The latest Quality Assurance Agency
guidance

7. It’s About Integrity

8. Contract Cheating
A student uses a third party to do
academic work they should be
completing for themselves
“outsourcing” “ghostwriting”
“essay mills”

9. Integrity and Misconduct are
Closely Linked
contract
cheating
academic
integrity
and other forms of
academic misconduct

10. Contract cheating is not new…
This example is one I used in my very first presentation
on contract cheating

11. 24 July 2003
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/jul/24/highereducation.uk1

12. ‘I’ve lost all my employment as I used
to be a top end academic ghost writer.
It’s been hell for me and for my
housemate it’s just been hell.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9660891/Academic-74-
admits-harassing-neighbour-73-played-Sinatras-Way-loudly.html

13. Why Are We
Concerned?

14. 8 June 2021
26 May 2021
Students know about contract
cheating and academic
misconduct. These areas are
regularly covered in the media
9 June 2021

15. The
Adverts

16. Why Are We Concerned About Contract
Cheating Now?
Our students have had a non-traditional
experience – and may not be equipped to
learn on their own
The contract cheating industry is capitalising
on Covid-19
Students are at risk!

17. The Social Consequences
Khan, Z.R., Hemnani, P., Raheja, S. and Joshy, J., 2020. Raising Awareness on Contract Cheating–
Lessons Learned from Running Campus-Wide Campaigns. Journal of Academic Ethics, 18(1), pp.17-33.
Direct Long Term Surrounding
Student has not
benefited from teaching
Anxiety
Low self esteem
Loneliness
Difficult
finding/keeping
jobs
Depression
Suicide
Shortage of skills and
knowledge impacting
families and economy
Unethical practices at
workplaces

18. Why Are We
Concerned
About Contract
Cheating In
Business
Schools?

19. The Workers Are Out There!
Examples from Fiverr.com – June 2021

20. Contract Cheating
Discipline Requests
by Students
Discipline Count
Business 124
Management 119
English 105
Marketing 67
Literature 51
Science 50
Design 48
Law 48
Engineering 48
Finance 47
Psychology 29
Health 28
History 26
Medical 24
Economics 22
Based on title words used in a data set of
3,843 work requests, posted on
Freelancer.com between August 2017 and
September 2019
Lancaster, T. and Dent, B., Academic Ghost Writing and Contract
Cheating Provision Observed on a Freelancing Website, European
Conference on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism 2021

21. WA Forum on
Contract Cheating
(13 October 2016)
https://registrar.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/Baird_-_WA_Forum_on_Contract_Cheating_Presentation.pdf

22. Contract Cheating Industry
“Bread And Butter”
• Unsupervised
written/mathematical/statistical
assessments
(particularly those at an introductory level)
• Business assignments
• Dissertations
but students can outsource almost any type of assessment

23. Contract Cheating is Big Business!
You could earn $2 per page…
The companies earn far more…

24. The contract cheating industry is determined
to make sure that its revenue streams
continue!

25. What Can
We Do?

26. We Need To…
Aim to ensure that students feel supported
and able to succeed…
but also to ensure that no one benefits from
breaches of academic integrity

27. considerations
benefits of acting
with integrity
student
engagement
assessment
design
student
support
employability
student
partnership
detecting
contract
cheating

28. The Balance Point
Assessment to
promote
learning
Assessment to
ensure
integrity
Balanced, varied and engaging assessment holds the key

29. Some Assessment Ideas
Oral presentations and vivas
Practical authentic assessments
Group and peer assessments
Narrated video assessments
Personalised and contextually specific assessments
Placements
Unseen exams (where appropriate and as part of a
balanced assessment diet)
Exams linked to coursework

30. Detection Is Possible…
Does this work
show any signs
that it was
produced by a
third party?
Could this
student have
produced this
work?

31. Majan College, Oman
We still
need to find
ways to
make
students
aware of
academic
integrity

32. We need to
consider how
acting with
integrity is
rewarded

33. Your Thoughts and
Questions

34. Connect With Me
My Email: thomas@thomaslancaster.co.uk
My Website: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
My Blog: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
My LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
My Twitter: @DrLancaster