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University cheats face expulsion

More than 70 university students linked with a widespread cheating scandal, are facing severe penalties including expulsion.

The students who come from five of New South Wales' most prestigious universities have been identified in connection with the now-defunct My Master website, which was an online essay writing company.

Two university students have already been expelled, following a Fairfax Media investigation last year, which revealed up to 1000 students from 16 universities had hired the Sydney-based MyMaster company to sit online tests and ghost-write their assignments.


The University of Newcastle has confirmed to Fairfax Media, that it has expelled two students and suspended a further eight for using the MyMaster service.

Deputy vice-chancellor Andrew Parfitt said a total of 31 students were found to have breached the university's academic misconduct protocol.

He noted each of them were international students based at the University of Newcastle's Sydney campus and added the vast majority of students had admitted to buying their assignments when they were questioned.

As a result 51 course fail grades were given out to 24 students, indicating some students had bought assignments for multiple courses. Those students were suspended or expelled.

Deputy vice chancellor Parfitt told Fairfax Media that the two expelled students had used the MyMaster service four or five times, or had previous misconduct breaches on their record.

Deputy vice chancellor Andrew Parfitt. Source: YouTube.
Deputy vice chancellor Andrew Parfitt. Source: YouTube.

He said the university was still pursuing a number of former students who had not responded to the cheating allegations.

The University of Newcastle is the only institution to have mostly finalised its internal investigation into the scandal, which was uncovered four months ago.

The four other worst-affected universities which were Macquarie University, University of Technology Sydney, University of Sydney and University of NSW have told Fairfax Media that while their internal investigations are still under way, a number of students have been identified.

Macquarie University confirmed 43 "current and former students" had been asked to attend disciplinary committee hearings to explain why their names were among the files held by the MyMaster website.

Fairfax Media reported that 19 UNSW students had been issued with "notices of allegation" in relation to 18 assignments, while 11 UTS students and three University of Sydney students are also being investigated.

Expulsion is listed as the maximum possible penalty for students found to have breached academic protocol at all the universities except UNSW, where the maximum penalty is 18 months’ suspension.

However all universities made it clear to Fairfax Media, that no penalties would be imposed until all appeal processes had been exhausted.

The students were identified using data which was insecurely stored on the My Master website, which was written in Chinese and marketed to international students studying at universities in NSW.

News break – March 19