Among the 122 accused students are several who have already graduated from the university and others who are due to receive their degrees at ceremonies in the next few weeks. The cheating scandal at Virginia is far from an isolated one. Last year a survey of 2,200 students at 21 American universities found that one in 10 admitted lifting chunks of academic material from internet sites. An inquiry by the neurobiology department at the University of California at Berkeley discovered that 45 out of 340 students had used lifted material and submitted it as their own. Teachers and professors have long been aware that the system is increasingly vulnerable to dishonesty.
Technology really is a double-edged sword when it comes to cheating.