Sydney University’s exam misconduct referrals last year almost entirely involved international students, who also made up about 80% of all cases of student misconduct.
According to the university’s 2023 Annual Report of Student Misconduct and separate academic integrity data, most cases related to academic misconduct such as exam cheating, while the remainder were for bullying, harassment or discrimination.
Of the 1,259 student misconduct cases received by the Student Affairs Unit, 999 involved student visa holders, while almost 100% of exam misconduct referrals had overseas student respondents, The Australian reported.
The number cases in 2023 was more than double the 600 from 2022, which then represented a huge increase from the 2017-21 average of 271 after the university moved to online exams.
“Each of these cases requires significant time and effort to prepare notices of alleged misconduct and conduct investigations,” the report stated, adding that more casual case managers and investigators were needed to deal with the “unprecedented demand”.
Universities are forced to spend between between $1,500 to $5,000 on solicitors to investigate individual misconduct cases if they escalate, although not all do, experts said.
Herman Chan, principal advocate at Academic Appeal Specialist, said rampant international student cheating wasn’t being stopped by current laws.
“There are ads everywhere in foreign social media from contract cheating providers,” he said.
“Many international students don’t face real consequences when caught, they just leave the course or transfer to another university, which damages the academic environment.”
University of Sydney deputy vice-chancellor Joanne Wright said most cheating reports related to first-year international students.
“But this becomes more consistent with the reporting rates of our domestic students by their second year, highlighting the particular challenges many international students can face including around studying in a second or even third language, and adjusting to life and study in a different culture and country,” she said.
The revelations come after academics revealed that students are able to graduate despite blatantly cheating and/or being unable to speak basic English.
International student numbers are now so high at some Australian universities that locals have reported entire classes being run in Chinese.
[Header image: Toby Hudson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]
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