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80% of university students admit to cheating

 
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:15 am    Post subject: 80% of university students admit to cheating Reply with quote

80 per cent of university students admit to cheating, UAE study finds
By Melanie Swan, The National | 3 July 2014
Source: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/80-per-cent-of-university-students-admit-to-cheating-uae-study-finds#ixzz36SCCsvan

DUBAI // About 80 per cent of university students admit to cheating by either copying other people’s work and passing it off as their own or paying someone to sit exams for them, according to research carried out at the University of Wollongong Dubai.

Zeenath Khan, who is studying for her PhD on academic integrity, surveyed about 2,000 students from six private and public institutions. She began examining the topic while teaching in 2006 and started her PhD in 2008. “As I was teaching it was a constant battle to teach students what was right and wrong,” said the computer science and ethics teacher. “It wasn’t just the conventional cheating on things like an exam, it was paying Dh200 for someone else to do your paper or copying from books.”

The reasons given by students why they cheated ranged from laziness to struggling to cope with parental pressure to perform well in school. Peer pressure from friends, said Ms Khan, was the most popular excuse. “Either they see their friends cheating or there is the pressure to be a part of a group, to be socialising. Those studying and trying to do well end up struggling to make it on the social side,” she said. Of the students surveyed, cheating was most prevalent among women, at 70 per cent versus about 50 per cent for men. This was down to the pressure from family and the wish to do well, Ms Khan said. In the case of male students, work commitments or being too busy socialising with friends were given as reasons for resorting to cheating.

So far there has been very little research into the problem in the UAE because the issue remains taboo, said Ms Khan. Out of 15 universities approached to be a part of her research only six, including her own, accepted.

Kevin Nawn, an English teacher who has worked in the region for more than 20 years and is currently employed at a private school in Dubai, said the “culture of cheating” resulted in little value being attached to educational achievement. The situation was made worse, he said, by students who may be living away from home for the first time and unable to deal with the responsibility. “They come to university and think whatever is the easiest way is the best way.”

Even students who do not cheat themselves accept that others do and do nothing about it because they feel it does not affect them, said Mr Nawn, adding that teachers also accept that it happens but do not feel it is their responsibility to police it while others avoid the subject entirely because they feel it reflects badly on them. As plagiarism-checking websites such as turnitin.com have grown in popularity, students have become more savvy, Mr Nawn said, and are resorting to other avenues such as paying companies to write papers for them.

Ms Khan, however, said turnitin.com was not able to detect plagiarism in languages other than English. The culture of cheating is so ingrained in some students that they even arrange for other people to sit key exams on their behalf, such as English-language entrance exams taken in schools before they enter university.

“Unfortunately that sets them up for failure because they begin an English degree they have virtually no chance of passing,” said Mr Nawn. “Fraudulent test scores are a major problem.”

Last year, Wollongong University began an outreach programme to more than 30 private schools to educate pupils about the realities and ethics of cheating. “It’s an understanding that has to be developed from a young age, and even among teachers,” said Ms Khan. “Many teachers don’t even realise it’s wrong to use Wikipedia.”

Dr Gina Eichner Cinali, a board member for the International Centre for Academic Integrity and a local academic at a private institution, said parents could also become “accomplices” in the problem. “By not encouraging them [their children] to do their own work from an early age or to the extent of paying for whatever it takes for their child to get ahead ... parents bribing their kids into schools. We are unearthing more and more cheating and if it becomes the norm, it stops being bad.”

She said that even academics were guilty of cheating and that she had carried out research into the issue in the UAE over the past year. “Teachers are submitting bogus CVs, imposter degrees, people using a degree from someone else with the same name. “Wasta is playing a big role. Even when a dean or academic finds a student guilty of cheating, it can still be overthrown. The whole institution needs to honour integrity. We can’t penalise students when we hire faculty who shouldn’t be there either.”

(End of article)


Last edited by nomad soul on Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:33 am; edited 1 time in total
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spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Surprised and shocked.














Not.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My first thought was that the other 20% lied...

VS
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear VS,

Great minds. . . . . . . Very Happy

Regards,
John
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some might call us cynical...

Cool

VS
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PC Parrot



Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 459
Location: Moral Police Station

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 4:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It goes on in the West too, you know.

That sentence was written in the hope of satisfying into silence the wishy-washy apologists who fail every time to appreciate that frequency and scale are important differentiating factors.

Back on topic, there's a reason teachers don't pass any incidents of cheating up the line. While the immediate management may be supportive, if it gets passed any further up the line, both the teacher and lower management are treated more like the guilty party than the student.

We once had a dean who, while out goose-stepping the corridors during an evening exam, spotted through the door-window a student cheating just at the moment when the teacher had turned to pace his way back to the front of the class.

The dean was furious and decided to reprimand .... the whole department over how it goes about proctoring.

The student? He got off scot free. Nothing. Not even a word.

Long-timers might also remember a story from the Gulf News where an Egyptian family was called into a school because their daughter had been caught red-handed. Instead of eating some humble pie and using the episode as a character building opportunity, the father blew his top and beat the teacher up!
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MuscatGary



Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

veiledsentiments wrote:
Some might call us cynical...

Cool

VS


I've been called that!
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robinbanks



Joined: 28 Apr 2009
Posts: 77

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Worse than cheating is the complete lack of remorse and-as happened to me- a tactic of going straight to the 'top banana'if you give them objective grades.Especially if other classes doing the same course are getting higher grades you (the teacher)is seen as the 'spoilsport'Whether a foundation course or a world cup bid,it's endemic,encouraged and endured.
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MuscatGary



Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

robinbanks wrote:
Worse than cheating is the complete lack of remorse and-as happened to me- a tactic of going straight to the 'top banana'if you give them objective grades.Especially if other classes doing the same course are getting higher grades you (the teacher)is seen as the 'spoilsport'Whether a foundation course or a world cup bid,it's endemic,encouraged and endured.


"It's not cheating teacher, it's helping."
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dubai to host region’s first international conference on academic integrity next year
By Melanie Swan, The National | July 3, 2014
Source: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/dubai-to-host-regionx2019s-first-international-conference-on-academic-integrity-next-year

DUBAI // The emirate will host the region’s first international conference on academic integrity next year, addressing problems of cheating by students, staff inflating students’ grades, teachers applying for jobs with false credentials and the culture of learning by rote, even in universities

Dr Gina Eichner Cinali, a local academic and board member for the International Centre for Academic Integrity (ICAI) which will host the event, said it is time to bring the community together to address fundamental issues relating to the standards and quality of education in the UAE and the region. “We all see corruption is the biggest hindrance to economic and social development and this starts with kindergarten, teaching kids not to lie, cheat and steal. It’s an ongoing process,” Dr Cinali said.

The University of Wollongong Dubai and the University of Dubai are already on board as partners for the event. The conference will address issues Dr Cinali says are regional and UAE specific, such as “kinship syndrome” where family members are employed by an institution based on connections rather than qualifications and students using “wasta” to have grades inflated. “If this doesn’t get tackled, the system will just keep going down,” Dr Cinali said.

Kevin Nawn, an English teacher at a private university in Dubai, said the conference would be important only if those who attend came away with practical tools to address issues of academic integrity in their own classes and universities. “If the conference is primarily theoretical, it won’t serve much of a purpose. That is why I think involvement of faculty from the region is crucial.”

Zeenath Khan, who is studying for her PhD on academic integrity at the University of Wollongong in Dubai, said there was much work to be done by students, parents and teachers to tackle the issue. “It’s so important for the region because it’s really time that we take this issue seriously. It’s an issue we need to fight together, schools and universities.” She said that a unified set of ethics and an understanding about what cheating means, including its economic impact, could be built only through dialogue, such as conferences. “Parents think they’re helping when they do their assignments for their children but they don’t realise that when it comes to getting a job, they won’t be able to keep these jobs. “We have students who get great jobs when they leave but cannot hang on to them.”

Tracey Bretag, the president of the executive board of the ICAI, said the motivation behind the event was to facilitate the sharing of best practice and latest research on the topic to delegates who may not have the opportunity to travel to the ICAI annual conference in North America. “It will also give participants the opportunity to discuss UAE-specific issues.”

(End of article)
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SirAristede



Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 83
Location: Salmiya, Al 'Āşimah, Kuwait

PostPosted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:
staff inflating students’ grades


I find this particularly comical considering the catch-22 of grading and assessment in the GCC (and in many other places in the world). I have taught elementary and secondary students in the United States and abroad (via web interfaces) and in many cases, if teachers don't give good grades, all hellfire and brimstone will rain upon them. I believe in and uphold academic integrity, but when the system is pitted against you, there is little recourse.

At the same time, many students are just passed on to the next grade (especially in the GCC) regardless of their actual levels of achievement or proficiency. It's not staff fixing the system, but rather the system mandating these counterproductive (and ultimately harmful) policies. Rolling Eyes
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 12:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

SirAristede wrote:
nomad soul wrote:
staff inflating students’ grades

I find this particularly comical considering the catch-22 of grading and assessment in the GCC (and in many other places in the world). I have taught elementary and secondary students in the United States and abroad (via web interfaces) and in many cases, if teachers don't give good grades, all hellfire and brimstone will rain upon them. I believe in and uphold academic integrity, but when the system is pitted against you, there is little recourse.

It's not comical considering you didn't capture the entire quote from the article:
    The emirate will host the region’s first international conference on academic integrity next year, addressing problems of cheating by students, staff inflating students’ grades, teachers applying for jobs with false credentials and the culture of learning by rote, even in universities.
This is a start. In fact, I'm interested in attending this conference, if possible. It should be quite stimulating.
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SirAristede



Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 83
Location: Salmiya, Al 'Āşimah, Kuwait

PostPosted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 2:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:
SirAristede wrote:
nomad soul wrote:
staff inflating students’ grades

I find this particularly comical considering the catch-22 of grading and assessment in the GCC (and in many other places in the world). I have taught elementary and secondary students in the United States and abroad (via web interfaces) and in many cases, if teachers don't give good grades, all hellfire and brimstone will rain upon them. I believe in and uphold academic integrity, but when the system is pitted against you, there is little recourse.

It's not comical considering you didn't capture the entire quote from the article:
    The emirate will host the region’s first international conference on academic integrity next year, addressing problems of cheating by students, staff inflating students’ grades, teachers applying for jobs with false credentials and the culture of learning by rote, even in universities.
This is a start. In fact, I'm interested in attending this conference, if possible. It should be quite stimulating.


Oh, I don't deny that this conference would be a positive start, but since the rest of the article didn't focus on grade inflation, I selected that particular bit. The first step to change is admitting that there is a problem, which I think is being addressed by the announcement of this conference.

At the same time, uncomfortable subtopics will be broached when discussing the subject of academic integrity. Whether such discourse yields anything remains to be seen. The topic of academic integrity can't be seriously discussed without elucidating the ingrained drawbacks of the current system and that means changing cultural norms and values.
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rdobbs98



Joined: 08 Oct 2010
Posts: 236

PostPosted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All the conferences lead nowhere, they claim to want to know but then don't. They have to change the rule by MOE mandating that students automatically pass up to the sixth grade.
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The Fifth Column



Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Posts: 331
Location: His habitude with lexical items protrudes not unlike a damaged pollex!!!

PostPosted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey! I have an idea! I propose that there be an annual gathering of educational luminaries!

None of that over-paying pedagogical hacks in order to say, "Hey! Look at us! We're just as progressive as the rest of the world! We, just two generations from trading camels or dunking for pearls, are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you who experienced hundreds of years of The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution...you chumps!

Nation-building is for the disillusioned! It's over-rated and "old school"! Plastic is in, man!

Oh! I almost forgot about the annual conference! Why not TWO! We'll call 'em:

Education Without Borders and Festival of Thinkers...

...because "thinking" is central to our educational system...
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