Revealed: Cases of impersonation and collusion to cheat college exam system

Online exams during the pandemic have increased the scope for cheating.

Universities and colleges have had to deal with a number of cases of impersonation in online exams and collusion among students trying to cheat the system, with the move to online during the pandemic.

Details from third-level institutions, released under Freedom of Information, show a high number of cases of alleged plagiarism and also cases of collusion on online exams and even impersonation.

At IT Sligo, there were four cases in the 2019/20 academic year and another three in the year prior to the onset of the pandemic, with six more in 2020/21, including three of personation in online examinations, in which the "person other than student completed part of the exam".

It resulted in two instances of a fail and a one-year suspension, and two others of a fail and a resit.

According to the college: "The online exams for students [in those four cases] were online exams where the student was not invigilated/proctored. This is an exam type not previously used pre-pandemic."

There were no disciplinary issues raised following online proctored exams in August 2020, January 2021, June 2021, or August 2021 and a spokesperson added that "the number investigated were in line with numbers expected.

"In that period, the Office of the Registrar dealt with 13 cases, which involved a breach of exam regulations. As there were no on-site exams in exam halls due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the only cases reported here are where a disciplinary committee was convened to make a judgment on their cases."

At Munster Technological University, 34 cases of plagiarism were noted last year in Cork, with penalties ranging from a letter of caution to temporary suspension of studies. This year, to mid-October, there had been 27 cases of plagiarism, with another 20 cases in Kerry. Of those, 19 cases had results affected negatively and one result was not affected.

The Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Athlone, saw 100 incidents of alleged cheating, 87 of which were upheld, all after the start of the pandemic.

82 of those upheld involved plagiarism, with the small number of remaining cases involving three cases of cheating, one of misrepresentation, and one other.

Dublin City University had 55 student disciplinary cases in the same period, with 32 upheld and no case to answer in 23. The university said 29 incidents involved allegations of plagiarism, with 23 exam breaches and three non-academic incidents where a student was disciplined. Two students were expelled.

A spokesperson said: "In the cases of plagiarism, the sanctions range from modules set to zero, to repeat continuous assessments, and extra pieces of work to complete, essay or continuous assessments, and also sanctions up to and including expulsion from the university.

"In the cases of exam breaches, the sanctions range from modules or exams set to zero to repeating exams and modules, depending on the severity of the case, up to and including expulsion from the university."

Waterford Institute of Technology had four cases, two of which resulted in suspension of the students, while the RCSI [Royal College of Surgeons Ireland] said: "Since March 2020, there have been seven incidents in relation to alleged cheating in online exams/assesments. This constitutes 0.02% of the total online examinations conducted."

A spokesperson for Maynooth University said: "Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 11 investigations into alleged cheating in exams/assessments within Maynooth University. To provide more detail would potentially identify the individuals concerned."

At Letterkenny Institute of Technology, four allegations of cheating were made, two since the start of the pandemic. Three students were excluded for a year, one was excluded for two years.

At Dundalk Insitute of Technology, there was one plagiarism incident involving one student in June 2020 and there was a plagiarism incident involving six students in May 2021, with all students having their continuous assessment set to zero, alongside their exam, with an opportunity to repeat in the summer examination session 2021/2022.