PayPal are encouraged to ban transactions from essay-writing companies in a bid to stop university students double-dealing the education system.
The education secretary, Damian Hinds said that it is “unethical for these companies to profit from this dishonest business“. Damian proposed a plan for UK universities to consider US honour codes where pupils pledge not to cheat.
“Companies that try to entice students to buy so-called plagiarism-free essays pose a real threat to the academic integrity of our higher education“These unscrupulous operators, increasingly and falsely marketing themselves as providing legitimate study aids, must be stopped in their tracks.”.”
– Douglas Blackstock, head of the QAA
In response, PayPal said that an internal review is underway into essay writing businesses.
In November, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) wrote to PayPal urging them to close down the payment facilities for the essay-writing companies that encourage students to cheat. However, the Higher Education watchdog said that they hadn’t seen any indication of PayPal taking action.
“We carefully review accounts that are flagged to us for possible violations of our policies, as well as UK laws and regulations. An internal review is already underway looking at the implications of essay writing services. We would be happy to talk to the Department of Education about their concerns.”
– PayPal
