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Idea
Stop UK Companies profiting from students’ mistakes!
Category: Your Studies
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Official Response: New Law bans Essay Mills
Huddersfield Students’ Union is excited to announce that the UK Government have passed a new law which bans Essay Mills across England. This was an issue that a student at Huddersfield University brought up to us through the Your Big Ideas (link: https://www.huddersfieldsu.co.uk/bigideas) platform.
You can see the original Big Idea here: https://hudsu.unioncloud.org/thestudentvoice/stop-uk-companies-profiting-from-students-mistakes
After being debated at a Big Ideas Student Panel back in 2019, the big idea was approved by students and became official Union Policy. This mandated us to work on banning Essay Mills and Emmanuel (SU President at the time, and now a PGR student) campaigned hard in this area.
Emmanuel wrote to the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research, and Innovation (Chris Skidmore at the time). On top of this, we submitted policy to the NUS (National Union of Students) Conference and contributed to a joint letter to the Secretary of State (Gavin Williamson at the time) alongside the President of the Students’ Union at Swansea University and the Vice President of the European Students’ Union. With support of the NUS and the University of Huddersfield, along with years of demanding work, the Government have now passed new legislation that has banned Essay Mills in England within the Skills and Post-16 Education Act which has been reported on by Times Higher Education here:
Whilst we cannot take full credit for this new legislation, we feel that Huddersfield Students’ Union have done significant work to contribute towards this discussion.
By having effective change making systems like Your Big Ideas, along with hardworking SU Officers and staff from SU’s and Universities across the UK (and indeed Europe); we can bring prominent issues to the forefront of the political agenda. Not only have we created change for our students, but for tens of thousands of students across the country.
If you have a big idea or want something changed at Huddersfield University, then please get an idea submitted to us through our Big Ideas page: Student Voice @ Huddersfield Students' Union (huddersfieldsu.co.uk)
You never know, your idea could be debated in Parliament and made into law!
Big Idea:
The University should lobby the government and the relevant bodies to push for legislative laws against essay mills in the UK.
Essay mills sell academic work to students through contract cheating. They often mis-sell their services, blackmail students to use unlawful services which are beyond what they initially enquired about, and then make money out of vulnerable students even though it is against university regulations. This undermines the integrity of other students who work hard and earn their degree.
Why should you work for your degree and an illegal business be allowed to sell to your colleague the degree so cheaply?
There are a significant number of these companies currently operating within the UK and accessible online on campus. These companies and businesses have grown in sophistication and effectiveness. Specific deadline and pressure periods are used for tailored and targeted emails to students. This is a period of vulnerability and considering most of these businesses approach students with the subtle lie of being proof reading aids, many are drawn in by careful cunning craft and stealth. This is very unfair because, although only a tiny minority of students would intend to cheat, sadly a number of initially unintending students still fall to this trap given the circumstances, timing and manner of approach used by these companies. International students are prime targets for these predators, however, this affects all students.
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Comments
I support this
It’s wrong and it doesn’t encourage students to read and excel on their own.
It’s wrong and does not encourage students to work hard for their degree
I support the movement. And I think the student union does an amazing job to combat these factors
It’s wrong
This should be stopped as we have a huge future ahead of us to secure.
This should be stopped as we have a huge future ahead of us to secure.
This should stop
It should be discouraged people should work hard like everyone else to secure their degree
This should stop
It should stop
Should be stopped
It overlooks those students that work hard for their education and who try to make a future for themselves.
#STOPESSAYMILLS