Cheating Incidents Triple at the University of Auckland Due to Online Exams By Justin Hu (he/him) The University of Auckland (UOA) discovered nearly 900 cheating incidents last year, in a tripling of its previous threeyear average. Data released to Debate under the Official Information Act also indicate that the numbers show no sign of slowing down this year – with the university blaming online exams. This comes after anonymous allegations of “widespread” cheating in the university’s online exams were publicised in June. At the time, one unnamed student claimed that the cheating was “prolific”. According to the University of Auckland’s academic misconduct register, the number of disciplined cheating incidents in 2020 surged to 897. In comparison, an average of the previous three years saw an average yearly rate of 287 incidents, though the number in 2019 was significantly higher at 443 incidents. Meanwhile, before August’s lockdown, there had been 572 incidents recorded in the register so far this year. Debate’s request for information had been sent in July. Earlier in February, the university had moved a majority of its exams online in both semester one and semester two.
At the time, Vice-Chancellor Dawn Freshwater said it was a decision driven by the unpredictability of Covid alert level changes. In a statement, university spokesperson Lisa Finucane confirmed that the online exams had resulted in more cases of academic misconduct. “There has been an increase in the number of allegations and proven cases of academic misconduct in online examinations compared with in-person paper-based examinations.” The spokesperson added that the university “takes a number of steps to prevent, detect, monitor and investigate cheating in online examinations.” Responding to Debate’s request for information, the university also added that there were approximately 162,000 exam sittings in 2020.
“If universities simply try to make a paper-based exam an online one, with no thought put into how to ensure academic integrity, then there is a real risk that the issue could become more widespread.”
New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) national president Andrew Lessells said that online exam systems have been a “recipe for disaster” for students in Auckland. “If universities simply try to make a paper-based exam an online one, with no thought put into how to ensure academic integrity, then there is a real risk that the issue could become more widespread,” Lessells said.
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