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A former university minister has urged that essay mills should be outlawed in the UK to protect students from exploitation and threats of blackmail by criminals.
Senior Conservative MP Chris Skidmore added that taking action to ban essay-writing services would also help to defend the reputation of UK universities.
Essay mills are referred to as commercial entities that make money by encouraging students to cheat on evaluations.
Their services involve providing ready-made essays to students to pass off as their own.
Mr. Skidmore wants to ban these organisations from operating and advertising in the UK.
On Wednesday, he will seek to introduce his Essay Mills (Prohibition) Bill to the House of Commons, hoping that ministers will include such actions in future legislation to be announced later this year in the Queen’s Speech.
Mr. Skidmore told the PA news agency: “The issue now seems to have gone beyond just being ‘here, buy our essay’.”
The problem is that students sell essays for £ 10 as well and they are sold on for £ 300-there’s exploitation going on.
And there also seems to be a dark criminal underworld in which blackmail takes place.
Mr. Skidmore said that via social media, essay mills are also targeting students, which risks normalising such cheating.
And Mr. Skidmore predicted that the UK would influence other nations to act and thus build momentum behind efforts to deal with a “international issue” by taking similar steps.
In terms of higher education, academic integrity is absolutely critical to maintaining a successful reputation both at home and abroad, so I think the UK can really lead to this.
“We’ve had legislation put forward by a few countries.
If the United Kingdom can show that it is prepared to introduce legislation to end essay mills as well, we could make this part of a broader international campaign to close this loophole.
Most individuals would assume that this type of service should be illegal because it actively damages the ability of a student to learn independently and learn effectively.
Mr. Skidmore said that any law should not criminalise students, but should target those behind the essay mills.