NUS UK has praised ban on essay mills being given Royal assent saying the government has ‘finally listened’.
As a result of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act receiving Royal Assent yesterday, Thursday April 28, essay mills will be banned in England.
What are essay mills?
Essay mills are quite straightforward. Students pay a company to write their essay for them. The company then gives the subject to a writer, often freelance writers, and in a few days, or weeks, depending on your deadline the essay is returned written in full to be submitted.
It sounds ideal if you’ve ever been a student struggling, but this is in fact cheating. Handing in work that isn’t your own may not only be cheating by could be plagiarism.
Essay mills are completely different to proofreading services – where you give your already written essay to a specialist who will be able to highlight any grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors or help with citations.
Then there’s essay banks where students can buy articles pre-written. This is an even more dangerous game to play as this essay quite possibly has already been submitted and could even more easily get someone caught out.
Basically, it’s better to just put the work in and seek help off the right people if you’re stuck.
What is the Skills Act?
According to the government the Skills and Post-16 Education Act ‘will help transform the skills and training landscape and level up opportunities across the country’.
It’s part of their levelling up and aims to help young people gain qualifications in wide range of subjects that should help them gain employment.
NUS supports the ban
NUS UK has spoke out supporting the act and the ban of essay mills as the NUS Vice-President for Higher Education Hillary Gyebi-Ababio said she feels the government has ‘finally listened’.
She said: ‘I am delighted that the Government have finally listened to NUS and QAA and banned essay mills. For too long, students – especially international students – have been preyed upon by these companies.
‘They have often been blackmailed and intimidated when they’ve been at their most vulnerable. Having called for Government action a number of times in the past, I am proud of NUS’ role in stopping this cruel practice.
‘But students should never have been in the position where they feel they must turn to essay mills in the first place. The Government must work with universities to ensure that adequate academic and pastoral support is provided for all students.’