We were recently delighted to hear that a campaign that Stephanie Lomas, our VP Education 2019-21 worked so hard on over the past couple of years is set to become law!

Steph worked closely with the team at NUS and other Elected Officers throughout the country to campaign for ‘Essay Mills’ (services offering to provide students with essays for money) to be made illegal.

The campaign, named #BetterByU aimed to raise awareness of academic integrity and contract cheating.

Those involved called upon Education Providers to ‘support the call to put an end to Essay Mills and take proactive measures to ensure students don’t fall foul of the unethical companies.’

The campaign asked Education Providers to follow 8 steps in order to show their support:

1. Sign up to the QAA Academic Integrity Charter
2. Ensure assessments are accessible, appropriate and not excessive
3. Educate all students on Academic Integrity every year
4. Invest in sustainable academic support skills for all
5. Create transparent processes for staff and students to report contract cheating communications
6. Provide staff with the remit, recognition and support to meet the challenges
7. Support the call to the government to implement legislation supporting students and targeting the essay mill companies themselves
8. Support the call to social media platforms and network providers to become ethical with their advertising and stop marketing essay mills

A survey of 50,000 students by Swansea University revealed the shocking statistic that 15.7% of students admitted to cheating- meaning that up to 1 in 7 recent graduates have paid someone else to do their work for them. (bbc.co.uk)

On 5^th October 2021, the government announced their plans to make it a criminal offence “to provide, arrange or advertise these cheating services for financial gain to students taking a qualification at any institution in England providing post-16 education including universities.” (gov.uk)

The move will help to not only help to maintain academic integrity across the education sector, but also safeguard students’ futures. Massive congratulations to Steph and everyone else working so hard to make #BetterByU a reality!

Current VP Education Usman said:

“The legislation to ban essay mills is one of great joy to students and staff round the University. Many of the essay mills prey on struggling students and thus prevent them from accessing the right support they need to hone their academic skills. Gratitude must be given to the Union’s previous Vice President of Education – Stephanie Lomas. Her #BetterByU campaign and relentless effort will go a long way in ensuring that the academic experience of many students is greatly improved.”

Steph said:

"I am thrilled that the Government have released this legislative intention which will assist so many students alongside the quality assurance of higher education as a whole. I hope that this legislation will also support the need for legislation in the devolved nations. This work is not over yet though as institutions, students’ unions and educational partners must continue their crucial work in tackling the reasons behind utilising these services and ensuring students are confident in their academic fields. Personally, my very small part in this work would not have been possible without NUS, QAA but most importantly the fantastic support of UCLan Students’ Union and University – so a special thank you to them!"