Paper: Nearly Half of Chinese International Student Dismissals are Because of Cheating
Plus, new cheating technology says it raised $500,000 in seed capital. Plus, one big investor dumps Chegg, but others rush in.
Issue 237
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Paper: 47.9% of Chinese Students Who Are Dismissed from US Schools are Dismissed for Cheating
PIE News (Professionals in International Education) has a story about a recent research paper outlining that, of the Chinese students studying in the US who have been dismissed from their schools, nearly half (47.9%) were expelled for cheating.
Let me say upfront that I don’t know the company that did the research, though PIE has been pretty decent overall.
Over the years, I have had legitimate experts in academic integrity tell me that international students do not break academic integrity rules any more frequently than anyone else. I’ve also had experts tell me they do, and significantly. I don’t know which is true.
But I am sharing this report and coverage because I think it highlights another significant disincentive in schools pursuing cases of misconduct in that international students tend to pay full tuition at most schools. Dismissing them for any reason, especially in any serious number, would be a major hit to the budget. I sense that school leaders have to think long and hard before dismissing students who pay full-freight cash tuition. And whether they cheat more or not, I think schools really want to keep them enrolled when given that option.
So, when a report says that half of all dismissals of foreign Chinese students were due to academic misconduct, I’m not sure what to believe. Either misconduct is so common, so brazen among this subset of students that the schools were forced to act, or that the report is just bogus.
Knowing what I know about how reluctant schools are to take actual action on cheating in any circumstance, I lean in the direction of bogus. That’s also because the report says that it’s based on a recent sample of:
compiled data from 12,087 dismissed Chinese international students who studied in the U.S. from 2013-2023
Maybe I’m missing a big thing, but I find it difficult to believe that more than 12,000 Chinese students were booted from colleges. Even over a ten-year period.
The paper says:
The data from the past year showed that academic dishonesty is still the primary reason for the dismissal of Chinese international students.
I mean, I guess so. But I’ve read too many annual reports from schools on academic integrity in which they suspend no one, dismiss no one - year after year. So, something is amiss.
What I do find interesting about this report is that it says that over a three-year period, dismissals for poor academic performance are going up while dismissals for academic misconduct are going down. That does not tack with the trends I’ve seen. Maybe schools are just calling it performance instead of integrity - which would be easier, faster, and cheaper to resolve.
The paper says:
The most common behaviors categorized as academic dishonesty include cheating on tests, impersonation, plagiarism, incorrect citations, application material fraud, and falsifying grades.
The paper also takes time to delineate between intentional academic misconduct and the unintended variety - missing citations, for example. They say:
The unintentional behavior is due to a lack of understanding of the academic integrity policies in American schools, and not realizing that certain behaviors violate school rules. For example, improper or incorrect citation formats in papers, not understanding exam rules, not placing enough attention on the academic integrity requirements of the American education system, and adopting a casual or lucky attitude, among others.
That’s a tad confusing. But I find it simply implausible that any student is actually kicked out of school over citation formats. Especially if these failures are unintentional.
Anyway, the paper is an interesting read. If you know more about international students and academic misconduct, or about the related dismissal rates, please let me know. This just feels off to me.
New Cheating Tool Raises $500,000 in Pre-Seed Funding
Spotted and sent in by a reader, this short press announcement says that a company based in London called YouMakr.ai raised $500,000 in funding.
The press blurb uses the newspeak we’re all too familiar with, including:
redefines the study process
reshaping exam preparation
committed to innovating the educational landscape
democratise advanced tech study aids
allowing students to study smarter
significantly optimise the way students prepare for their exams
AI-powered private tutor
And on and on and on.
But why do I say it’s a fledgling cheating company? Because the little funding announcement also says:
By harnessing the power of AI, individuals should be free to produce quality content and claim ownership of their results without discrimination. AI detectors, however, hinder this progress by discouraging users from embracing these advancements.
That’s kind of confusing since I think who owns AI-produced material will likely be determined by the courts. However, it is clear that this company thinks the ability to detect AI content is not good.
That’s not clear enough? Try this:
Its free generative AI tool, which is free to use turns AI content into human content. The AI-to-human transformation guarantees authentic content and preserves your message flawlessly. YouMakr.ai limits the philosophy of AI detectors. YouMakr’s AI algorithm rewrites your content from scratch in a distinctly human-like manner. This preserves the high quality of your content while beating the AI detectors.
And, there it is.
Their tool takes AI-generated content and “rewrites” it “while beating the AI detectors.” They “guarantee authentic content.” From AI. In other words, they are Quillbot - a machine designed to enable cheating, by bypassing detection.
It’s no wonder that, according to the announcement:
YouMakr.ai’s exciting new offering has already stirred up considerable interest, demonstrated by the organic growth of its user base, surpassing 100,000 registrations without the company spending anything on traditional marketing efforts.
One hundred thousand registrations without marketing - I had no idea there was such interest in reshaping exam preparation.
Anyway, investing in this new cheat deception are:
Praveen Varshney of Varshney Capital, Warwickshire Investment Group and the innovative V3 investment syndicate.
Credit Suisse AG Dumps Chegg, Others Buy In
According to reporting at the end of August, Credit Suisse AG has dumped a majority of its position in cheating profiteer Chegg.
This is your quick reminder that, even though its stock value has collapsed (see Issue 206), Chegg is still listed on the New York Stock Exchange and clings to many high-profile, institutional investors (see Issue 142). Cheating is very, very profitable.
Anyway, the news is - after the epic collapse that has triggered more than one lawsuit - one of Chegg’s investment romances is headed for Splitsville. From the coverage:
Credit Suisse AG decreased its position in Chegg, Inc. by 61.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 561,573 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 902,242 shares during the quarter. Credit Suisse AG owned approximately 0.47% of Chegg worth $9,154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
To get a sense of the scale of the academic fraud provider that is Chegg, you may want to read that again.
Even after dropping more than 60% of its holdings in Chegg, Credit Suisse still owns less than one-half of one percent of it. And that .47% of Chegg is worth more than $9 million.
The ship is sinking and one investor has boarded a lifeboat - probably too late.
But don’t feel bad. Where one left, the reporting says other investors have been eager to cash in on cheating profits while they still can. Those actually increasing their holdings in Chegg, according to the report, are:
Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Chegg by 41.8% during the 4th quarter - value $900,000.
Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Chegg by 2.2% in the fourth quarter and now owns 305,200 shares of stock worth $7,712,000.
Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in Chegg by 91.7% in the first quarter and now owns 51,689 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $843,000,
Homestead Advisers Corp purchased a new position in Chegg during the 1st quarter valued at $1,951,000.
Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Chegg by 4.5% in the 4th quarter and owns 103,213 shares worth $2,608,000.