Stephen Joyce, New Zealand's Minister of Higher Education, recently announced that according to the investigation of the police, a website for writing homework for China students has been discovered. He said that any behavior involving academic fraud will be prosecuted.
Karen Portas, director of the New Zealand Academic Accreditation Committee, who is in charge of investigating this matter, told the Beijing News reporter recently that they have learned about the situation from the media that exposed this matter, but there is not enough evidence to take action.
Last year, after China students were involved in the falsification of application materials for studying abroad, they asked "gunmen" to write papers on their behalf and put China students at the center of public opinion.
"aboveboard" and "ghostwriting"
This matter caused controversy in New Zealand. According to local media, "a huge ghostwriter team helped to realize the biggest cheating network."
The story of "writing papers on behalf of others" was first exposed by a New Zealand media. It is reported that the reporter dressed up as an overseas student in China and finally spent S $270 to buy a newspaper. But the exposed website denied the content of the report.
Compared with the "defense" of the website, the "advertisements" written in some papers are undisguised in Chinese forums. This kind of "advertisement" also settled in Weibo "aboveboard" and undertook "ghostwriting business" through Weibo. It is not uncommon for Weibo users to enter "ghostwriting" search, and some users have hundreds of thousands of fans. Although its introduction is varied, its core is "professional and reliable service". Attaching QQ and other contact information may also reflect the "service expertise", and even some users have filled in detailed overseas education background.
In fact, ghostwriting is not the first exposure. According to a report by Melbourne International Student News Network last year, they found at least 20 accounts providing ghostwriting services for international students on Chinese Weibo. BBC UK also launched the topic of "Shadow of British Chinese Paper Writing". The media's "experiential reporting" of such events is easy to realize, which also proves the "openness" of this industry from the side.
According to insiders, ghostwriting has formed a complete interest chain to some extent.
How to form a complete interest chain?
The news of China News Network in New Zealand quoted an associate professor in the Department of Economics of Victoria University as saying that the English level of international students in New Zealand universities is low, and the differences in different cultural views make China international students find "gunmen" to cheat, thinking that cheating will be fine as long as it is not discovered. The associate professor also pointed out that these foreign students whose mother tongue is not English are really difficult to learn. It is for this reason that they may choose to cheat in order to pass the exam.
It is worth noting that although most educational institutions in New Zealand have introduced plagiarism monitoring systems, it is difficult to identify whether homework is written by students themselves. This also gives students an "opportunity".
"I have seen students ask people to write papers. English teaching cannot meet the needs of every student, and it is even more difficult to write English papers. Some students don't work hard at ordinary times and cram for the Buddha's feet. In this case, students will inevitably choose to find someone to write for them. " Xiao Wang (a pseudonym) studying in Australia said.
However, the "author" in the whole thesis writing chain is not in direct contact with students, and the risk of exposure is relatively low. Under the temptation of interests, they acted as "pushers" of fraud.
Relevant experts said that at present, the number of students studying abroad in China is increasing year by year. In the growing army of studying abroad, there are many students who study abroad with the mentality of "mixed overseas diplomas". And some study agents send some students whose language and knowledge reserves are unqualified abroad for the benefit. In the face of academic failure, individual students put "honesty" behind them and chose to find someone to write for them.
"Integrity problem" does not exist in isolation.
Although some experts believe that spending money on papers is only a problem of "individual students", and it is not unique to China students, it will also appear in students from other countries. However, the application materials are falsified, which makes people write papers on their behalf ... With the repeated exposure of the integrity of studying abroad, the image of China students will inevitably be damaged. For example, it will lead foreign universities to examine the application materials of China students more harshly and raise the entrance threshold.
Recently, some critics pointed out that the rampant ghostwriting business not only damaged academic dignity, but also seriously overdrawn a country's reputation of education and integrity. Indeed, the integrity of studying abroad, such as blocking thesis writing, has always been recognized by all parties, but it is not easy to prescribe a panacea.
To solve this problem, all experts will give their own answers. From "be aware of the serious consequences of fraud" to "morally dissuade students and writers", and then put forward suggestions from all aspects of the process of studying abroad, when China students are placed in the focus of public opinion of "honesty" again and again, the isolated answer seems a little pale.