A British daily newspaper’s investigation has uncovered a cheating scandal reportedly capitalizing off of Kenyan academics and paying them as little as $1 an hour to churn out essays for British and American students. “Slaving away in ‘essay factories’ in Nairobi, the highly educated experts earn as little as a dollar an hour while their …
Recent measures taken by the United Kingdom government to stamp out the use of essay mills by its students come as a blow to thousands of Kenyan university students and graduates who rely on contract academic writing as a major source of income. Kenya is an international “hotspot” of individuals enabling contract cheating, according to Dr …
‘Academic writers’ set to lose lucrative global market Read More »
As the contract cheating market has become more sophisticated and competition has intensified, the contract cheating industry has had to redevelop its approach to gain custom. The industry has developed new models of internal operation and providers are using more sophisticated techniques to reach potential customers. This paper discusses contract cheating industry workflows and introduces …
Commercial contract cheating provision through micro-outsourcing web sites Read More »
“Contract cheating” is a rising phenomenon, with research showing that millions of students across the world had taken part in the practice of paying for completed school work. A report by The New York Times explores the essay-for-hire industry that tasks English speakers in developing countries with writing essays for American college students. Writers in Kenya are …
Tuition was due. The rent was, too. So Mary Mbugua, a university student in Nyeri, Kenya, went out in search of a job. At first, she tried selling insurance policies, but that only paid on commission and she never sold one. Then she sat behind the reception desk at a hotel, but it ran into financial trouble. Finally, a …
Something known previously by a select few is getting serious attention of late – Kenya is a big player in the contract cheating industry. While certainly not all contract cheating providers reside in Kenya, there are signs that a great many of them do. Why? According to some sources, the country is rich with highly educated people …
A Bold Proposition: Withholding Foreign Aid to Tackle the Contract Cheating Problem Read More »
My research into contract cheating, dating right back to when I first publicised the threat this poses to academic standards in 2006, has identified worldwide hot spots of individuals enabling contract cheating. These hot spots are international locations with essay mill companies and individual writers keen to make money by helping other people to cheat. They also …
How Kenya Now Leads The World In Enabling Contract Cheating Read More »
It was 5 p.m. on a Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya, and the streets were crowded with people rushing to get home for dinner. But Philemon, a 25-year-old science researcher, was just getting ready for his second job as an academic writer. Philemon is part of the global industry of contract cheating in which students around …
Doing Western students’ homework is big business in Kenya Read More »
There is evidence that workers from India are included in the set of people helping students to commit contract cheating. Although this isn’t an area that we’ve drawn particular attention to in our research, we have been asked by the media to comment on the Indian connection many times in recent years, including in this 2016 …
Much of my recent research has focused on the contract cheating industry, the firms and individuals who help and encourage students to consider contract cheating. As part of an event held as part of Ireland’s Academic Integrity Week on 22 October 2020 and supported by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning …
The Business of Contract Cheating – Webinar Slides Read More »
