Lecturers in boycott over graduation of exam ‘cheats’

By Dara Bradley Academic staff of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) boycotted a graduation ceremony last week in protest at appeals boards’ decisions to allow cheating students – who admitted to plagiarising final year assignments – to graduate without having to repeat the exams.  

Several members of teaching staff “chose to stay away” from the graduation ceremonies last week because they “were not happy with the decisions of appeals boards”, according to an internal email seen by this newspaper.

The email was sent to 46 academic staff members within the Engineering Department by the Department head, Tom White.

It is understood the boycott relates to general concerns about Masters students having their marks increased on appeal, and more specifically to students who were in their final year studying a construction-related degree course in the Department of Building and Civil Engineering within the School of Engineering at the Dublin Road Campus.

In a cheating scandal that has shaken academic staff at GMIT, the Galway City Tribune can reveal that at least four students admitted to an internal college disciplinary committee that they had plagiarised a section of their final year assignments – passed off someone else’s work as their own – but they were still cleared to graduate with pass or honours degrees.

While a statement from GMIT denied any suggestion that a ‘blind eye’ was turned to the instances of cheating, and insisted that a strict code of disciplinary practice covers all cases of this kind, the Galway City Tribune has been able to verify with internal documents that the students involved did not have to repeat the exams they admitted to cheating in.

In a statement yesterday, GMIT wouldn’t confirm or deny a boycott but said it does not have a policy that mandates staff to attend graduations. “Every year we have a very high level of staff attendance at all graduation sessions and this year there was a record attendance,” the statement read.

The Galway City Tribune put a series of questions in relation to this incident to GMIT, none of which were answered directly. GMIT issued a statement which read: “The allegations are incorrect and without foundation. The college deals comprehensively with all allegations of cheating and plagiarism, and ensures that due process and fair procedures are afforded to accused students.

 “GMIT operates a code of practice where allegations are dealt with by an independent disciplinary committee. Where students are found guilty of an alleged offence, the disciplinary committee enforces sanctions, as detailed on our website.”

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.