Universities welcome TEQSA action to block cheating website

Universities welcome action by the higher education regulator TEQSA to block widely-used cheating websites.

Universities welcome action by the higher education regulator to block cheating website.

Universities have welcomed the first federal government action ever to block access to cheating websites that sell essays and assignments to higher education students.

On Friday Education Minister Jason Clare said the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, the higher education regulator, had blocked access to 40 websites that were visited 450,000 times a month.

University of Newcastle vice-chancellor Alex Zelinsky welcomed the move to shut down the sites, saying cheating in online exams was rife. With the growth in online teaching and assessment it was “very hard to make sure people are doing the right thing”, he said.

Professor Zelinsky said his university was taking a risk-based approach and introducing oral exams, or vivas, to check whether students knew the content of their courses.

“You may be randomly selected for a viva,” he said.

The university also will ensure there are more face-to-face exams for students, particularly in the final year.

TEQSA will use new protocols finalised in June with a group of internet service providers (members of industry group the Communications Alliance) to block access to the cheating websites.

“Blocking these websites will seriously disrupt the operations of the criminals behind them,” Mr Clare said.

The 40 websites targeted are the most visited cheating sites.

TEQSA also has given higher education providers secure access to a much wider list of 2333 suspected academic cheating websites.

The agency said in June that the list included sites that operated globally, as well as 579 sites that specifically targeted students at Australian higher education institutions.