Latest news with #academic integrity
Times
5 days ago
- Science
- Times
If there's no escaping AI, should students even try?
If you listen to the optimists, you'll hear that artificial intelligence will give everyone a free friend, therapist or even doctor. But unlike the search engines that came before, large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT can also produce highly customised answers to nuanced and specific questions. For all of the possible benefits, the 'expert in your pocket' is therefore also a huge problem for academic integrity. Almost nine out of ten undergraduates already use AI to help on their assessments, a survey found this year, while a 2024 study revealed that, on average, chatbots received higher grades than real undergraduates. With LLM-detectors widely seen as unfit for purpose, many therefore suspect cheating is now rife. Some pedagogists believe pen-and-paper tests, like GCSE exams, are the only credible way to ensure students still learn the content. Others, however, think coursework and at-home exams remain crucial to encourage responsible AI use. • AI cheating surges at universities 'I am certain that most of my students use LLMs at some point to solve coding problems,' Professor Stephane Wolton says. 'But for me that is fine because in their real job they are going to use it too. Why would I forbid them from doing something they are going to do later?' Wolton, who teaches political science at the London School of Economics (LSE), is among the first professors in the country to experiment with an innovative assessment design — one that he thinks will likely catch on. For the final quarter of their grade, his students produce a short essay using an LLM. They are not assessed on the quality of that answer but instead on a justification of their prompts and a 1,000-word critique of the response. This year Wolton asked postgraduates to see what a chatbot had to say about the claim that 'only a strong autocratic regime' could effectively tackle climate change. The marks, he says, were for explaining how and why the AI answer was unsatisfactory. 'Everybody is saying it's a revolution and I tend to believe that you cannot fight progress. I don't want us to be Luddites but to actually embrace this thing,' Wolton says. 'We don't know exactly how LLMs are going to be used in future, but they are going to be used — I want my students to have a headstart.' Wolton says that in-person exams remain important to check students learn the core concepts, but, drawing a comparison with the early internet era, he adds that it is also crucial to teach students to think critically about AI-generation. 'From a pedagogical perspective this is quite important. My goal is to get them to use this tool intelligently. I was surprised by how many students, probably two thirds, didn't think properly about how to use these tools,' he says. 'It's not changing the philosophy, it's changing what this philosophy is applied to.' Most students appreciated his novel assessment method, according to Sophia Moore, an undergraduate who took one of his classes. 'It actually engages with the role of AI in academia instead of simply ignoring it,' she says. 'The way we write, think and learn is changing, as do the expectations in the job market — assessments should change too,' agrees Valeria Schell, a postgraduate student. 'The traditional model of cramming facts, writing them out under time pressure, and then forgetting it all a week later feels outdated.' Schell was especially frustrated at classes that, in her view, had ignored the technological improvements of the past few years. 'Right now, students are often already using AI — just quietly. So instead of rewarding those who break the rules, do it skilfully and hide it well, why not make it part of the assignment?' she says. Professor Christopher Tucci, who teaches digital strategy and innovation at Imperial College London, also updated his course shortly after the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. Seeing how a colleague generated a book draft using an LLM, Tucci was convinced that bot-generated content wasn't going anywhere. Students will need to understand their strengths and weaknesses in the real world, he argues, meaning they should be included at university. An outright ban is 'a ship that sailed a long time ago', he adds. 'The most honest ones are not going to use it but everyone else is. That's going to put incredible pressure on them because it will be difficult to keep up.' However, others push back against integrating AI into student assessments by pointing to potential drawbacks. • 'An existential crisis': can universities survive ChatGPT? Despite using LLMs to help with translation and debugging code, Angelo Pirrone, a psychology lecturer at the University of Liverpool, doesn't think academics outside of computer science should use valuable classroom time teaching their use. 'I don't buy into the idea that we should embrace whatever innovation comes our way. It seems to me that students are getting worse by the year so old school teaching and learning — reading, writing, having conversations — goes a long way,' Pirrone says. 'I feel we could have students engage with much better material. Should we succumb as a consequence of endemic cheating to this type of AI-centred learning? I don't think so.' Some students on Wolton's course privately agree. One, speaking anonymously, expresses frustration that they had spent hours researching LLM techniques rather than political economy. Even Wolton himself cautions that time would run out for his method if the models become good enough to convincingly critique themselves. But the future is 'frightening and exciting', he believes — so perhaps we should try to keep up. Which is the best university in the UK? See the definitive university rankings, get expert advice on your application and more in The Sunday Times Good University Guide
News24
08-08-2025
- Politics
- News24
UCT to submit to govt probe into alleged discriminatory marking practices
The University of Cape Town (UCT) will open its doors to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) for its investigation of the alleged discriminatory awarding of marks. In a communication from the vice-chancellor, Professor Mosa Moshabela, UCT said it had also offered to conduct an internal investigation. 'We now invite DHET to conduct an independent investigation, given the need to restore public confidence as stated in the statement by the minister,' Moshabela said. Minister Buti Manamela said his department had been made aware of allegations of grade manipulation and institutional malpractice in the Department of Social Development at UCT this week. He described the accusations as 'grave and deeply troubling'. 'If substantiated, such practices constitute a serious violation of the principles of academic integrity, non-discrimination, and public trust. The fact that these concerns were raised by a former head of department, elevates the urgency and legitimacy of the matter,' he said. READ | Debt crisis: Battling students owe universities billions in outstanding fees Manamela said he would engage directly with the council chairperson and the vice-chancellor to establish which internal investigations were launched, what measures were taken to safeguard academic standards, and how the university intended to restore public confidence. 'The Department of Higher Education and Training has reviewed the dossier submitted to it and is currently assessing the appropriate steps within the framework of the Higher Education Act, including options for oversight or independent inquiry, should governance failures be confirmed,' said Manamela. 'This matter will not be brushed aside. We owe it to the students, academics, and the public to get to the bottom of it - and to act accordingly.' Moshabela said the university was made aware of the allegations on Tuesday - the same day the department posted a public statement saying it would engage with UCT. 'On the morning of Wednesday, 6 August 2025, I had a call with the Minister of Higher Education and Training to discuss the handling of the matter going forward. 'As UCT, we have tight measures in place to safeguard the integrity of our academic programmes,' said Moshabela. We are a top-ranked university on the continent because we value academic excellence and integrity, and measure ourselves against global standards of excellence. ' If anyone in our academic community was found to engage in academic misconduct of any kind, such practices will compromise the academic quality, standards and standing of UCT.' Moshabela said the university would 'continue to engage with the minister and the department to ensure this matter is timeously brought to conclusion'.
Telegraph
04-08-2025
- Science
- Telegraph
Criminal gangs fake science papers for money
Fraudulent science papers produced by criminal gangs for money are starting to outpace legitimate studies, experts have warned. Academics at Northwestern University, in Illinois, US, warned that scientific journals could soon become 'completely poisoned' by fake reports that damage public trust and are potentially medically harmful. The problem is driven by illegal 'paper mills', largely based in Russia, China and India, which produce sham research and invite new and struggling academics to pay thousands of pounds to have their name listed as an author. In many countries, the number of published papers and citations is critical for scientists to achieve promotion and win funding grants. For the new study, researchers carried out a large-scale analysis of scientific journal data and discovered 'sophisticated global networks of individuals and entities, which systematically work together to undermine the integrity of academic publishing'. They estimated that the number of fraudulent articles was doubling every 18 months, compared to legitimate articles, which were doubling every 15 years. The problem is so widespread that the publication of fraudulent science is 'outpacing the growth rate of legitimate scientific publications', academics found. 'Distressing to see others engage in fraud' 'This study is probably the most depressing project I've been involved with in my entire life,' said Luís Amaral, Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics. 'Since I was a kid, I was excited about science. It's distressing to see others engage in fraud and in misleading others. 'If we do not create awareness around this problem, worse and worse behaviour will become normalised. At some point, it will be too late, and scientific literature will become completely poisoned.' The problem has become so widespread that more than 10,000 scientific papers needed to be retracted by academic journals last year alone, with experts warning that many more go undetected. The findings show that in some journals, certain editors were linked to a suspiciously high number of retracted articles, suggesting they were complicit in allowing them to be published. Paper mills churn out large numbers of manuscripts, which they then sell to academics who want to quickly publish new work. They often feature fabricated data, manipulated or even stolen images, plagiarised content and sometimes nonsensical or physically impossible claims, the researchers said. Experts say that the papers are often used in bigger databases or meta-analyses, which could invalidate or slow down drug discoveries or medical breakthroughs. 'Launder a reputation' Sometimes fraudsters hijack defunct journals, taking over the identity of a publication that is no longer operational to place articles, something that happened to the UK journal HIV Nursing. After it fell out of use, an organisation bought the domain name and started publishing thousands of papers on subjects completely unrelated to nursing. Dr Reese Richardson, a fellow in Amaral's laboratory, said: 'Paper mills operate by a variety of different models, so we have only just been able to scratch the surface of how they operate. 'But they sell basically anything that can be used to launder a reputation. They often sell authorship slots for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. A person might pay more money for the first author position or less money for a fourth author position. 'People also can pay to get papers they have written automatically accepted in a journal through a sham peer-review process.' The authors said that the findings should serve as a wake-up call to the scientific community, which needed to act before the public lost confidence in the scientific process. 'These networks are essentially criminal organisations, acting together to fake the process of science,' added Prof Amaral. 'Millions of dollars are involved in these processes.'
