Brunel Student Union Publishes Letter by Student About To be Expelled for Plagiarism

As a lesson to other students, as part of campaign working with the University against "Falsified Evidence". The letter was emailed to all students attending the university.

With a union like this defending students, who needs enemies?

Letter by student whose name's been changed can be found below:

"My name’s Liu, I’ve been here at Brunel studying an Undergraduate degree for the last 3 years and I am now working towards a master’s qualification. My parents have used all of their savings to enable me these opportunities.

I’m originally from China, and I moved to the UK to study here at Brunel. English is not my first language and I’ve struggled with the culture shift.

It all started when I submitted a plagiarised essay in one of my modules. I didn’t do it intentionally but I failed to proofread my work and failed to notice I had not referenced correctly.

I had encountered personal difficulties with my mental health and this was the reason why my work was not finalised and proofread before I submitted.

I did not want to submit my work late so I submitted what I had, I did not realise that such a simple error would have such high consequences.

After submitting my essay, it was flagged by my department for academic misconduct and I was given the opportunity to resubmit for credit only.

I was devastated. I believed submitting my work on time would make me a better student but I have been penalised with a first offence penalty due to my carelessness. If only I spoke with my personal tutor and submitted ECs or an extension request at the time, an extra day is all I needed.

I put in an Extenuating Circumstances to my college after the academic misconduct outcome was received but I did not have any medical evidence. I didn’t have any because I didn’t sign up to the doctors on Campus and my Dr in China has advised that I need to think positive and focus on what I need to do.

It was at this stage, that I knew that if I did not submit ECs then I may not get the award I was aiming for. My family would be very disappointed in me, and they would have spent lots of money to get me here, only for me to fail or come out with a low award.

I made the wrong decision to fake the evidence that I needed for my EC in order to get them accepted, and so I went online to buy a fake doctors note.

In the end, the University checked my evidence and they couldn’t confirm that my note was genuine. They worked out that I had faked it, and that was my second offence. I’m now in the process of being removed from University, and it is very unlikely that I will ever be able to study here again.

At the moment, I am lying to my family and telling them that I will graduate. Soon, I’ll either have to tell them that I failed or continue to lie to them for the rest of my life. I feel very guilty about this, and was offered the chance to write this article to tell my story. It might make you feel better to cheat, but if they catch you then you’ll lose far more than you expect.

I have spent nearly 4 years of life at Brunel and spent over £40,000 from family savings and I may not have anything to show for it. This decision will impact me for the rest of my life.

Looking back, if only I had not submitted incomplete work, it’s likely I would have been given a chance to re-sit anyway and none of this would have happened.

I wish I had been honest with my department."

What is to be defended?

He followed up plagiarism with fraud. It's going to have consequences.

Unions have a responsibility to stand by the side of the student when said student falls on hard times. In this case they have joined hands with the university instead of the student.

Its important for me to stop here and shine some light on a few things.

Brunel is a university largely made up of minority students. Its a university with roughly a 80% to 90% BAME population and 90%+ white authority. As in, most staff deciding the fate of students at this university are white and most students are of colour. We have white authority at this university acting as a huge barrier to the most vulnerable members of society with our union aiding these whites in their efforts thanks to ignorance. Why do I say ignorance?

Plagiarism often does not occur as a result of complacency on the part of the student, but its rather the result of poorly organised environments that leave students with little or no choice but to resort to such tactics. I am not justifying these tactics. I am not justifying plagiarism. It is an evil act, but I am saying that universities are largely to blame for these issues not the students. They are the root cause of this problem. Wherever you find tons of plagiarism in students dont look to the students look to the university. That is where the problem usually lies.

Brunel is a HIGHLY disorganised university. This student shouldn't be the one we focus our attention on but his university. The student who sent me this email confirms these facts.

Another thing I find interesting about this issue, is how differently plagiarism by whites is treated at university level as compared to BAME students. I have recently spoken to a student's whose life's work has been plagiarised by three staff members, highly prominent in higher education, in one of the most popular universities in the UK. His work was word for word copied and pasted by these staff who then went on to publish this work, which is entirely that of this student who is BAME by one of the most popular publishers in the world. This is how hugely significant and impactful his work was and he tried everything to have them held to account...confirming to whomsoever would listen beyond a reasonable doubt that his work was plagiarised, including the Metropolitan Police Service and guess what happened? NOTHING....all of these individuals are all still working in their jobs without so much as a blemish on their records...and these are highly influential individuals in higher education....If you are white you can get away with murder....and if you are BAME your life will be destroyed if you do any little thing wrong...It seems like this is the new way in which racism is being implemented in society...through strict barriers to BAME students and relaxed limits + support to whites who fall on hard times.....and our union is enabling this discrimination...this disparity...and this is not just affecting BAME but all students...

Plagiarism is widespread amongst lecturers. Those same lecturers who lambast students for plagiarism are more often than not plagiarists themselves. Plagiarism is so common with lecturers in higher education you will never believe it. Often, if not always, thanks to the university, these staff get away with plagiarism with zero consequences, particularly if they are white. Universities are not in a position to lecture students on plagiarism. They are party to it. They are a huge cause of it. Believe it or not but many lecturers plagiarise from students. I read a report recently by a student on this topic and he wrote that in his research he found that even in research on plagiarism, written by researchers in this country, plagiarism was common. As in work discouraging plagiarism is often plagiarised...lol

It seems to me like there is a huge disparity between the way in which student plagiarists are dealt with and lecturer plagiarists are dealt with. It seems to me like there is a huge disparity between the way in which white plagiarists are dealt with and BAME plagiarists are dealt with....These disparities are alarming and they are being enabled by ignoramuses like those of the Brunel "Student" Union.

You need to understand the context though. International students are far more likely to be convicted of plagerism, and of them Chinese students in particular are the most likely.

Why though? Funnily enough its not always because they are bad people, in my experiance (working with international Chinese students for 5 years) you can split them into two groups:

Group A - the unlucky:

- Come from a country that don't teach western academic styles of referencing/quotations/sourcing to high-school aged students (or university age, in some courses)
- Come from different and far less rigerous university systems that are not as strict as the UK (Chinese university is a joke in terms of difficulty comprared to the UK)
- Don't speak english very well, so struggle to learn and communicate with departments.
- Parents spent their entire savings to send them abroad and they feel immense pressure to succeed and not let their entire family down
- Education in their culture is hugely important, and failure is not an option.

These people tend to get desperate when they realise they can't cope with studying abroad, and in their desperation they make bad decisions. They struggle to communicate and seek support, and dig themselves a bigger and bigger hole.

If the student is part of the first group (and obviously they all claim to be) then I genuinly feel sorry for him, its not his fault and its a huge problem with how western universities see Chinese students as cash cows.. a great source of revenue, but they don't put in the infrastrcutre and systems to support them when they arrive.

---

The second group:

- Mummy and daddy are rich millionares, who will pay for any course anywhere.. they feel entitled to pass, won't study, and then will pay for translators and essay writers to write their courses.. if they fail or get kicked out? so what.. do it again, or go to a different country.

I've known plenty of these. Mummy and daddy don't care as long as their kid is busy, and doing something respectable (studying abroad). These are entitled ****s who take advantage of the system for thier own gain.

You need to understand the context though. International students are far more likely to be convicted of plagerism, and of them Chinese students in particular are the most likely.

Why though? Funnily enough its not always because they are bad people, in my experiance (working with international Chinese students for 5 years) you can split them into two groups:

Group A - the unlucky:

- Come from a country that don't teach western academic styles of referencing/quotations/sourcing to high-school aged students (or university age, in some courses)
- Come from different and far less rigerous university systems that are not as strict as the UK (Chinese university is a joke in terms of difficulty comprared to the UK)
- Don't speak english very well, so struggle to learn and communicate with departments.
- Parents spent their entire savings to send them abroad and they feel immense pressure to succeed and not let their entire family down
- Education in their culture is hugely important, and failure is not an option.

These people tend to get desperate when they realise they can't cope with studying abroad, and in their desperation they make bad decisions. They struggle to communicate and seek support, and dig themselves a bigger and bigger hole.

If the student is part of the first group (and obviously they all claim to be) then I genuinly feel sorry for him, its not his fault and its a huge problem with how western universities see Chinese students as cash cows.. a great source of revenue, but they don't put in the infrastrcutre and systems to support them when they arrive.

---

The second group:

- Mummy and daddy are rich millionares, who will pay for any course anywhere.. they feel entitled to pass, won't study, and then will pay for translators and essay writers to write their courses.. if they fail or get kicked out? so what.. do it again, or go to a different country.

I've known plenty of these. Mummy and daddy don't care as long as their kid is busy, and doing something respectable (studying abroad). These are entitled ****s who take advantage of the system for thier own gain.

You need to understand the context though. International students are far more likely to be convicted of plagerism, and of them Chinese students in particular are the most likely.

Why though? Funnily enough its not always because they are bad people, in my experiance (working with international Chinese students for 5 years) you can split them into two groups:

Group A - the unlucky:

- Come from a country that don't teach western academic styles of referencing/quotations/sourcing to high-school aged students (or university age, in some courses)
- Come from different and far less rigerous university systems that are not as strict as the UK (Chinese university is a joke in terms of difficulty comprared to the UK)
- Don't speak english very well, so struggle to learn and communicate with departments.
- Parents spent their entire savings to send them abroad and they feel immense pressure to succeed and not let their entire family down
- Education in their culture is hugely important, and failure is not an option.

These people tend to get desperate when they realise they can't cope with studying abroad, and in their desperation they make bad decisions. They struggle to communicate and seek support, and dig themselves a bigger and bigger hole.

If the student is part of the first group (and obviously they all claim to be) then I genuinly feel sorry for him, its not his fault and its a huge problem with how western universities see Chinese students as cash cows.. a great source of revenue, but they don't put in the infrastrcutre and systems to support them when they arrive.

---

The second group:

- Mummy and daddy are rich millionares, who will pay for any course anywhere.. they feel entitled to pass, won't study, and then will pay for translators and essay writers to write their courses.. if they fail or get kicked out? so what.. do it again, or go to a different country.

I've known plenty of these. Mummy and daddy don't care as long as their kid is busy, and doing something respectable (studying abroad). These are entitled ****s who take advantage of the system for thier own gain.

As is made quite explicit in the letter, the student has been at Brunel for four years. Trying to excuse the student's actions on the basis that they knew no better regarding referencing or lacked understanding of the UK system is not a valid argument.

As a lesson to other students, as part of campaign working with the University against "Falsified Evidence". The letter was emailed to all students attending the university.
With a union like this defending students, who needs enemies?
Letter by student whose name's been changed can be found below:
"My name’s Liu, I’ve been here at Brunel studying an Undergraduate degree for the last 3 years and I am now working towards a master’s qualification. My parents have used all of their savings to enable me these opportunities.
I’m originally from China, and I moved to the UK to study here at Brunel. English is not my first language and I’ve struggled with the culture shift.
It all started when I submitted a plagiarised essay in one of my modules. I didn’t do it intentionally but I failed to proofread my work and failed to notice I had not referenced correctly.
I had encountered personal difficulties with my mental health and this was the reason why my work was not finalised and proofread before I submitted.
I did not want to submit my work late so I submitted what I had, I did not realise that such a simple error would have such high consequences.
After submitting my essay, it was flagged by my department for academic misconduct and I was given the opportunity to resubmit for credit only.
I was devastated. I believed submitting my work on time would make me a better student but I have been penalised with a first offence penalty due to my carelessness. If only I spoke with my personal tutor and submitted ECs or an extension request at the time, an extra day is all I needed.
I put in an Extenuating Circumstances to my college after the academic misconduct outcome was received but I did not have any medical evidence. I didn’t have any because I didn’t sign up to the doctors on Campus and my Dr in China has advised that I need to think positive and focus on what I need to do.
It was at this stage, that I knew that if I did not submit ECs then I may not get the award I was aiming for. My family would be very disappointed in me, and they would have spent lots of money to get me here, only for me to fail or come out with a low award.
I made the wrong decision to fake the evidence that I needed for my EC in order to get them accepted, and so I went online to buy a fake doctors note.
In the end, the University checked my evidence and they couldn’t confirm that my note was genuine. They worked out that I had faked it, and that was my second offence. I’m now in the process of being removed from University, and it is very unlikely that I will ever be able to study here again.
At the moment, I am lying to my family and telling them that I will graduate. Soon, I’ll either have to tell them that I failed or continue to lie to them for the rest of my life. I feel very guilty about this, and was offered the chance to write this article to tell my story. It might make you feel better to cheat, but if they catch you then you’ll lose far more than you expect.
I have spent nearly 4 years of life at Brunel and spent over £40,000 from family savings and I may not have anything to show for it. This decision will impact me for the rest of my life.
Looking back, if only I had not submitted incomplete work, it’s likely I would have been given a chance to re-sit anyway and none of this would have happened.
I wish I had been honest with my department."