The Plot Thickens In Uni Cheating Scandal

Nobody looks good here.

Last month it was revealed two University of Sydney students had been expelled and 70 more faced severe penalties after being caught using essay ghost-writing company MyMaster.

However, a new investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald suggests dozens of those students may escape punishment, due to weaknesses in the uni’s plagiarism detection methods.

Up to 1000 students across 16 universities had paid between $90 and $800 for MyMaster to write “fully referenced, ready-to-submit” assignments in 2014.

Since the revelation, only five USYD students have been identified as culprits. The SMH reports other universities, similarly hit by the scandal, having had a far better success rate.

Macquarie University is investigating 43 “current and recently graduated students,” while the University of Newcastle has penalised 31 students for their involvement.

The trouble at the University of Sydney stems from plagiarism detection software Turnitin not being used in all units of study, as revealed in an email from head of student affairs Idena Rex to deputy vice-chancellor Tyrone Carlin.

We suspect, following all this media coverage, USYD will be far more vigilant going forward. The moral remains the same though: cheating doesn’t pay, but it costs a whole lot.