University chiefs call for ban on 'essay mill' companies

More than 40 universities have written to the UK education secretary asking for a ban on companies selling essays to students.

The letter, signed by 46 vice-chancellors and heads of higher education bodies, is calling on the UK government to target the providers of the services rather than the students who use it.

Some students pay the so-called ‘essay mills’ for original work, which therefore cannot easily be detected by anti-plagiarism software.

Students caught submitting work that is not their own face serious penalties, which can include being thrown off their university course.

However, in the UK it is not illegal to offer commercial essay writing services, with companies openly advertising on social media and near university campuses.

Such services undermine the integrity of higher education and are unfair to honest, diligent students, the university bosses say.

UK universities minister Sam Gyimah said the government was working to "bear down" on the problem, adding that "legislative options are not off the table".

He said: “I expect universities to be educating students about these services and highlight the stiff, and possibly life-changing, penalties they face.

“I also want the sector to do more to grip the problem, for example by tackling advertising of these services in their institutions and finally blocking these services from sending an alarming number of emails to the inboxes of university students and staff.

“I have been working with organisations across the higher education sector to bear down on this problem and this has already resulted in the likes of YouTube removing adverts for these essay mills, but legislative options are not off the table.”

According to the BBC, a recent survey of students around the world conducted by Swansea University found about 15 per cent had cheated in the past four years, up from an average of 3.5 per cent over the past 40 years.

It also suggested 31 million students globally had paid someone else to undertake their work.

The vice-chancellors have said making the services illegal would stop them operating out of the UK and allow them to be removed from online search engine findings.

In the letter, they call on the government to commit to introducing legislation to ban the provision and advertising of essay mills before the end of this parliament.