Edinburgh alleged plagiarism probe to take 'weeks'

Edinburgh University officials said this week that the departmental investigation into plagiarism claims was likely to take "weeks rather than days", because examiners wanted to contact all the students involved.

Departmental examiners had raised queries in relation to a practical project that was one component of a first-year half-course, a spokeswoman said.

Marks for the project were being withheld until the examiners' questions had been resolved. But she refused to say whether these focused on mass plagiarism using new technology.

"We wouldn't want to comment on what may or may not be involved. It is speculation at this stage as to what may or may not have happened," she said.

But she confirmed that the university was aware of a message on one of the university website bulletin boards offering a completed programme for the first-year practical.

"There are hundreds of bulletin boards and it is not feasible to police everything that is posted on them," she said.