Contract cheating at colleges and other non-university higher education providers

Non-university higher education providers comprise 75 per cent of all higher education providers in Australia, yet there is a dearth of research about academic integrity in these institutions. Findings from a nationally funded research project on contract cheating in Australian higher education reported that non-university higher education students were 12 times more likely than university students to report use of a professional service to cheat, but somewhat paradoxically they received more academic integrity training. This chapter takes the research further and explores why non-university higher education students, often referred to as college students outside of Australia, might be particularly vulnerable to commercial contract cheating services; and makes recommendations for ensuring that college students have access to appropriate academic and social support. Given the increasingly commercialized and internationalized nature of higher education globally, and the corresponding increase in the number of students moving through different kinds of institutions as part of their learning experience, academic integrity research relating to these institutions is urgently needed.