An international student in Australia has had his visa cancelled due to plagiarism as he was found to have copied a number of his assignments directly from internet sources without attribution.
The affected student is from Pakistan and was studying business in Melbourne when his visa was cancelled last year by the immigration department. His appeal to overturn the decision on his visa has been declined by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
During the hearing of his appeal, the student had blamed the education provider for failing to educate him about the consequences of his conduct, The Australian reported.
He told the immigration department that he was not advised how to source information from an online source or provide information about different referencing styles required for assignments.
“I had received a competent grade in all of my assignments,” he said.
“Not a single assessor of mine had advised me of any situation involving plagiarism.”
He said he had been encouraged to find the answers to assignment questions on the internet.
In the year 2014-15, the Department of Immigration cancelled 9250 visas. Yet in the seven months to March this year 9000 had been cancelled.
Student visas may be cancelled on the grounds the holder is not a genuine student or the holder has engaged or is likely to engage in unseemly conduct. This includes selling essays on campus, academic misconduct such as repeatedly cheating in exams or serious plagiarism or receiving payment to attend classes or exams on another student’s behalf.
