Australia warns UK over essay mills hacking university websites

UK universities’ websites may have been infiltrated by malware that directs students to essay mills, the Australian sector watchdog has warned.

In a letter to its UK counterpart, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa) says websites of Australian higher education providers have been “compromised by insertion of malicious code that redirects students to contract cheating websites”.

As reported by Times Higher Education, researchers recently found that hundreds of university websites had been targeted by essay mills, which included redirecting links to or searches for legitimate services to essay mills and placing content with hyperlinks to their sites on student service pages.

In the letter to the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Teqsa says it has written to all Australian higher education providers to inform them of the threat and is now taking this opportunity to share this information “as this activity may also be occurring on provider websites in other countries”.

Other forms of infiltration that were discovered include posting fake essay contests on providers' websites and allowing the essay mills to “harvest” the essays students submit in the hope of winning money or scholarships so they can resell them, as well as comments promoting the sites on discussion forums.

Teqsa has advised providers to conduct an investigation of their websites for infiltration or vulnerability and published an advisory statement for the Australian sector.

In response, the QAA urged UK institutions to sign up to its Academic Integrity Charter. Launched in October 2020, it sets out seven principles that signatories commit to implementing to protect academic integrity. So far, 118 universities have signed up.

The QAA said that academic misconduct is “a growing problem globally and presents a threat to the UK higher education sector’s world-class reputation”.

The principles will help providers develop their own policies and practices to ensure that each student’s qualification is genuine, verifiable and respected, the QAA said.

Douglas Blackstock, the QAA’s chief executive, said that “every university and college that signs the charter is demonstrating its own, and a collective, commitment to promote academic integrity. The growth of essay mills cuts across all levels of education and isn’t confined to the UK.

“The charter is a significant step forward, but we also need action from governments and internet service providers to make it impossible for essay mills to function,” he said.

anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com