All the students caught cheating at the University of Oslo in 2008 were exchange students.

Foreign students are overrepresented on the statistics on students who are found guilty of cheating and plagiarism by Norway’s universities. According to numbers The Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) has collected, all of the students who were caught cheating at the University of Oslo last year were exchange students.

- In 2007, foreign students were responsible for the cheating in half of the cases discovered. In 2008 all of those found guilty of cheating were foreign, and this year, almost all of the people found guilty are foreign, says Monica Bakken, study director by the University of Oslo, to NRK.

Cheating sextupled in five years

Universitas revealed in August last year that the number of students caught cheating by the university had sextupled in the last five years. Back then, Monica Bakken said that she thought the increase could be seen in connection with the increased study pressure connected with the introduction of the Quality Reform.

- I think the increased study pressure that followed the demand of progression can lead to a larger number of people choosing shortcuts, Bakken said to Universitas.

When Universitas again covered the case of cheating in December last year, a total of fifty-three cases of cheating had been discussed. Ten of the cases resulted in that the students in question had their exams annulled and got suspended from public higher education for up to a year. Seventeen cases resulted in just the annulments of the exams. In the twenty-six remaining cases there were found no reason to react on the terms. The cases that were revealed all had in common that the cheating concerned various cases of copy-paste methods during home examinations.

And now it turns out that all of those found guilty were exchange students.

- Not cheating

However, Monica Bakken thinks that some of the reasons that so many exchange students are found guilty of cheating might be connected with the different academic traditions in the different cultures.

- In Norway we practice certain rules that might not be as common in other countries, she says to NRK.

The president of International Student´s Union (ISU), Farshad Tami, agrees with Bakken about how much of the cheating can be caused by different academic cultures. He tells Universitas, however, that the university leadership is responsible for informing the exchange students of what is considered good academic order when they offer the students a place by the university.

- In some countries students learn that plagiarism and use of quotes from other academic articles is important, while in other countries, like Norway, students learn early that plagiarism is wrong.

He thinks that the foreign students should not be accused of cheating when they have thought they apply a correct use of quotations. He also criticizes the university for being bad at informing the foreign students of what is considered correct academic practice.

- At the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås, both Norwegian and foreign students are offered lectures in English about what is reckoned good academic practice at their university. At the University of Oslo there must be about one per cent of the lecturers who inform their students about plagiarism, says Tami.

Anders R. Christensen • Translated by Ingrid F. Brubaker