Threefold rise in 'copied' university applications

Almost 8,500 students were flagged up for 'copying' material in their university applications last year - and admissions body Ucas has said that after they have been checked out the information can be passed on to the institution a student is applying to.  

The new figures show that the number of people suspected of plagiarising their personal statements has more than tripled in a year.

In 2011, 8,458 university applicants were flagged up as having similarities in their personal statements, compared with 2,450 in 2010 and 3,098 in 2008. The figures were given to BBC Radio 4 by Ucas, which uses special software to compare personal statements for similarities.

The personal statement is required of students as part of the application for a place, and should detail skills and achievements, and other useful individual information.  Ucas told the BBC that the sharp rise in plagiarised statements reflected a more stringent threshold in the checking procedure.

This story on the Independent website