Survey finds 16.3% Thai university students cheat in exams

[webfact]

Survey finds 16.3% university students cheat in exams
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- An online survey has learned that as many as 16.3 per cent of university students have cheated in exams. The survey covered 5,654 students from 23 higher educational institutes.

Assoc Prof Pachitjanut Siripanich, who works for the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), said: "About 29.7 per cent of the respondents admitted that they helped their friends cheat. The figures are just shocking."

While releasing the findings at a seminar yesterday, she said that students thought nothing of plagiarising other academic work.

"Most of them know it is shameful, but they still do it," she said.

NIDA was commissioned by the Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUUPT) to conduct the survey.

"We will use these findings to call on all universities to campaign against cheating," CUPT president Somkiat Lertpaitoon said.


-- The Nation 2013-11-23

[hanno]

Now I am certainly not in the Thai-bashing camp; far from it. However, that number seems way too low. According to friends who graduated from uni, cheating is epidemic across the board.

[SlyAnimal]

Now I am certainly not in the Thai-bashing camp; far from it. However, that number seems way too low. According to friends who graduated from uni, cheating is epidemic across the board.

I think it depends on which university and who they're friends with. (Since students probably won't risk letting everyone know that they're cheating).

Every time I suggest that there is a lot of cheating at universities my gf tells me about how strict the supervisors were and how hardly anyone cheated when she was at uni.

But having seen how the students at my high school try to cheat, I know that they're not really morally adverse to cheating. Also seeing some university graduates who REALLY don't deserve to have graduated, I'm pretty sure that some universities are very relaxed in their scrutiny of examinees (or that some universities simply have very low standards).

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[Trentham]

Now I am certainly not in the Thai-bashing camp; far from it. However, that number seems way too low. According to friends who graduated from uni, cheating is epidemic across the board.

No! That figure sounds about right. 83.7% buy their pass.

[JoeThePoster]

And 83.7% lie in surveys.

[atsiii]

"We will use these findings to call on all universities to campaign against cheating," CUPT president Somkiat Lertpaitoon said.

---These are the same "universities" that don't know who Hitler was, or why anyone gets upset by their uni grads sieg heil'ing the Fuehrer for graduation photos.

[Cereal]

Cheating is an Asian thing. I've taught in Laos and am presently teaching in Korea. I have friends who teach in China. Asians cheat on everything. The SAT exams were recently cancelled country wide in Korea because the professor in charge of the Office of Education was selling the answers.

I wouldn't say that is is endemic in Asian society, I would say that it is the only facet of their society that allows them to keep pace with the West. What do Asians invent? Nothing. They take/steal Western inventions and innovations and tweak them and call them original.

Korean students who go to Canada or the USA to university have a huge failure/dropout rate because they can't handle doing work alone and being singularly responsible.

Several nuclear reactors are offline in Korea because the guy in charge of safety was falsifying the safety reports, claiming work was satisfactory that had never been done. On freaking nuke plants!!!

[PEP]

If you yourself have completed a University degree in a civilised country care to conduct your own "Mini Survey" amongst your so called Thai counterparts you will soon realise that "Things Just Ain't the Same". Either the Education Level is low in all respects or there is some "Funny Business" with many pass results.

PEP has spoken!!!!

[bushwacker]

My first thought was the number is way too low. Then it occurred to me that the society as a whole teaches lying, cheating, bribing, grabbing, tricking .... etc. And so the number really only indicates the % of students that have not learned to keep their mouth shut and not screw it up for the rest. In this case, the number is high!

[Nowhereman60]

That only the ones who got caught.

[Scott]

I once gave my students an exam in which I mixed up the order of the questions. The first 5 questions were the same and then after that they were mixed up. After the exam was finished, I told the students that the ordering of questions was changed. They were shocked and complained bitterly that it wasn't fair. Only a handful of students did not have the same sequence of answers.

Another teacher once caught 28 students out of a class of 32 cheating.

Fortunately, we had an administration who did not take kindly to cheating and we were allowed to give them a zero on the exam with no retest and a letter written to the parents. Once this was started, it did not take long for cheating to decrease significantly.

This was at the Mathyom level, by the way.

[Dennisdob]

Let's not be overly critical towards the Thai students? This takes place in many exams,and in many countries, the students spend more time on how to cheat than actually studying." Let's beat the system." They can be very creative and innovated in the cheating concept.

In Thailand, many professors do not cover exams, proctors will supervise it. Some are secretaries, assistants, etc. if a student has a question, forget it, the exams are delivered with instructions, and hope for the best! They will utilize their phones, SMS, etc. to find the appropriate answers.

What is the solution? Let the professor give the exam! He/she can discourage cheating if walking around and answering questions rather than drinking coffee at the desk.

Thank you,

Ph.D

[A1Str8]

A lot more I would say. I mean no disrespect but when it comes to all forms of cheating, thais seem to excel.

[yooyoo]

Now I am certainly not in the Thai-bashing camp; far from it. However, that number seems way too low. According to friends who graduated from uni, cheating is epidemic across the board.

I think it depends on which university and who they're friends with. (Since students probably won't risk letting everyone know that they're cheating).

Every time I suggest that there is a lot of cheating at universities my gf tells me about how strict the supervisors were and how hardly anyone cheated when she was at uni.

But having seen how the students at my high school try to cheat, I know that they're not really morally adverse to cheating. Also seeing some university graduates who REALLY don't deserve to have graduated, I'm pretty sure that some universities are very relaxed in their scrutiny of examinees (or that some universities simply have very low standards).

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Its a way of life for Thais... try to circumvent rules and regulations and try to get away with it... reflected in their behavior in society at large... driving, overcharging tourists, not complying with safety standards.. I am always amazed at the way the hordes of motorcyclists behave on the road...and their usage of the road... no helmets, no glasses, women holding small babies while navigating through traffic... it is a way of life... disregard for safety and complete and utter ignorance of the rules... how many tourists, unfortunately the majority seem to be Russian, have been killed in road accidents during the past year?

[Scott]

A post with quote only has been deleted.

[transam]

I thought the guy who did the final checking was the biggest cheat, passing folk who failed.

[pistachios]

The fact that it's still possible to cheat at university level exams says a lot about the standards of education in this country. In my engineering school, during most exams we were allowed to use as many documentation as we wanted. The questions were made in a way that they tested the student's ability to solve a problem without making most form of cheating impossible.

Foreign language test? Write an essay

Math? Solve an equation or a problem

Mechanical design? Draw it and calculate the acceptable size of each elements on the side

Manufacture? Each questions required a mini essay.

etc...

Each question was usually a few lines long and required pages of calculus or logical reasonning. Unless you slipped your complete exam sheets to your neighbour it was basically impossible to cheat.

If cheating is still prevalent at university then there is a problem. Is the teacher dedicated enough to spend at least 20 minutes grading each paper? Is an english student even able to write an essay? Has the university gone past the rote learning model and multiple choice questionnaires? probably not.

[inzman]

I've been teaching in this fair country for over 3 years, that figure is way off. It's closer to 98%.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited November 23, 2013 by inzman

[sirchai]

I thought the guy who did the final checking was the biggest cheat, passing folk who failed.

Gotta love such posts,as you can buy a Doctorate degree for 500 k. Ever thought about having a title before transam?

Dr. Trans ,or Dr. Am sounds much better to me. But that's not called cheating. 55555555555555555555555555555555555555

Our Thai English teachers with their Masters in English can explain the procedure to you. But you'll have to come with your wife and speak Thai with them.

Said information comes from a lawyer who's not a liar in Ubon. -

Edited November 23, 2013 by sirchai

[transam]

I thought the guy who did the final checking was the biggest cheat, passing folk who failed.

Gotta love such posts,as you can buy a Doctorate degree for 500 k. Ever thought about having a title before transam?

Dr. Trans ,or Dr. Am sounds much better to me. But that's not called cheating. 55555555555555555555555555555555555555

Said information comes from a lawyer who's not a liar in Ubon. -

I like the sound of Sir Trans.......... ..................

[sirchai]

I thought the guy who did the final checking was the biggest cheat, passing folk who failed.

Gotta love such posts,as you can buy a Doctorate degree for 500 k. Ever thought about having a title before transam?

Dr. Trans ,or Dr. Am sounds much better to me. But that's not called cheating. 55555555555555555555555555555555555555

Said information comes from a lawyer who's not a liar in Ubon. -

I like the sound of Sir Trans.......... ..................

Okay you got me on that. What about Sir Dr. Transi?-

[Mudcrab]

Cheating is an Asian thing. I've taught in Laos and am presently teaching in Korea. I have friends who teach in China. Asians cheat on everything. The SAT exams were recently cancelled country wide in Korea because the professor in charge of the Office of Education was selling the answers.

I wouldn't say that is is endemic in Asian society, I would say that it is the only facet of their society that allows them to keep pace with the West. What do Asians invent? Nothing. They take/steal Western inventions and innovations and tweak them and call them original.

Korean students who go to Canada or the USA to university have a huge failure/dropout rate because they can't handle doing work alone and being singularly responsible.

Several nuclear reactors are offline in Korea because the guy in charge of safety was falsifying the safety reports, claiming work was satisfactory that had never been done. On freaking nuke plants!!!

Never heard of gunpowder? We would still be hitting each other with rocks if we hadn't stolen this invention off the Asians.

[transam]

I thought the guy who did the final checking was the biggest cheat, passing folk who failed.

Gotta love such posts,as you can buy a Doctorate degree for 500 k. Ever thought about having a title before transam?

Dr. Trans ,or Dr. Am sounds much better to me. But that's not called cheating. 55555555555555555555555555555555555555

Said information comes from a lawyer who's not a liar in Ubon. -

I like the sound of Sir Trans.......... ..................

Okay you got me on that. What about Sir Dr. Transi?-

Or, Sir Lord Dr. Trans............I am feeling very important now............. .........

Can someone please lend me 500,000 bht...........

Edited November 23, 2013 by transam

[a99az]

Totally unrealistic to survey something like this in this way, in Thailand, so the findings are way off. From my experience as a teacher I get papers back that are photo copies of other students work, they don't even try to hide the fact that they copy others. Little wonder they think it's OK to cheat in exams.

[sadhukar]

Cheating is an Asian thing. I've taught in Laos and am presently teaching in Korea. I have friends who teach in China. Asians cheat on everything. The SAT exams were recently cancelled country wide in Korea because the professor in charge of the Office of Education was selling the answers.

I wouldn't say that is is endemic in Asian society, I would say that it is the only facet of their society that allows them to keep pace with the West. What do Asians invent? Nothing. They take/steal Western inventions and innovations and tweak them and call them original.

Korean students who go to Canada or the USA to university have a huge failure/dropout rate because they can't handle doing work alone and being singularly responsible.

Several nuclear reactors are offline in Korea because the guy in charge of safety was falsifying the safety reports, claiming work was satisfactory that had never been done. On freaking nuke plants!!!

Yep not a racist and completely ignorant post at all! Did you come from the 1850"s? Are you here to complete the 'white man's burden'?

[transam]

Cheating is an Asian thing. I've taught in Laos and am presently teaching in Korea. I have friends who teach in China. Asians cheat on everything. The SAT exams were recently cancelled country wide in Korea because the professor in charge of the Office of Education was selling the answers.

I wouldn't say that is is endemic in Asian society, I would say that it is the only facet of their society that allows them to keep pace with the West. What do Asians invent? Nothing. They take/steal Western inventions and innovations and tweak them and call them original.

Korean students who go to Canada or the USA to university have a huge failure/dropout rate because they can't handle doing work alone and being singularly responsible.

Several nuclear reactors are offline in Korea because the guy in charge of safety was falsifying the safety reports, claiming work was satisfactory that had never been done. On freaking nuke plants!!!

Yep not a racist and completely ignorant post at all! Did you come from the 1850"s? Are you here to complete the 'white man's burden'?

You don't like the truth ?

[tingtongteesood]

The headline is wrong, it should say that '16.3% of students are stupid enough to admit they cheat in exams to people doking surveys'.

[Scott]

I don't think the facts on cheating are racist. Generally, in Asia, exam scores are much more important than they are in many other countries. This starts when they are quite young. Where I work, KG students must sit for a written exam and they will get a % score and we have parents who will come in an argue about the % score. That's a lot of pressure that starts pretty early.

[recom273]

If they didnt cheat, they wouldnt pass .. failure is not an option.

If students were made to retake years from the age of elementary school because they didnt pass their exams there would be kids who never make it out of Pratom school. I have taught Mathayom students who couldnt read or write their name in English and have difficulty in their own language, why? because all they have done is copy from the board for duration of their academic career.

Coursework .. waste of time, they copy from their friends, they copy word for word from Wikipedia. Why would they think that cheating is wrong in exams, they have been cheated / cheating all their lives in one way or another, it comes to a point where the kids are so unaware they are cheating, that cheating becomes the norm.

We had a saying when i was a kid, "if you cheat, you only cheat yourself" .. and thats what Thailand has been doing for years, cheating itself out of progress.

[culicine]

Thais are taught not to value individuality, so the results are not surprising. I'm surprised it's this low. I think the figures are higher than this. based on what I see happening in schools. Until teachers and academics stop condoning the practice, it will continue. We are very strict in my school - anyone caught cheating in an exam automatically gets 0 for that exam with no retest,