Ban all remote unsupervised tests ‘immediately’, urges report

Universities should end the use of unsupervised remote exams “immediately” or risk undermining public confidence in the value of a degree, according to a report that found four-fifths of institutions are relying on assessments that could be “highly vulnerable” to cheating.

Thinktank Policy Exchange has urged the Office for Students (OfS) and Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) to intervene, claiming universities are “heavily reliant” on the use of take-home essays and unsupervised remote exams which are “actively promoting” the use of AI.

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests were sent to 120 universities in the UK in 2024, with 78 per cent of them relying on online, remote exams for summative assessment.

A report on the findings authored by Swansea University neuroscientist Phil Newton found that only 10 per cent of all institutions use online invigilation for all such tests, and around a third of university policies for these exams do not mention generative AI.

“Universities must act now to put their house in order, before it is too late,” writes Neil Mendoza, provost of Oriel College, Oxford in a foreword to the report.

Evidence of Learning Through Assessment: Protecting the Value of a Degree in the Age of Al finds that existing challenges to the legitimacy of assessment – including grade inflation, essay mills and inadequate staff training – have been “tipped into a full-blown crisis” by the ubiquity of AI.

In contrast to schools, the report suggests, where exams are externally marked and moderated and designed by staff outside the administering institution, universities have a “weakened” assessment system.

“The higher education sector is asked to mark its own homework, incentivised by a financial model that is driven by league tables,” the report states.

With students sitting remote exams left to independently monitor their own conduct, those who follow the rules are “punished by lower grades”, which in turn disadvantages them as they graduate into a “competitive job market, having accumulated considerable debt”.

Despite these issues, 70 per cent of universities plan to continue using online unsupervised exams, the report notes.

More than 90 per cent of students say they’ve been assessed by take-home essays, and over half (55 per cent) by remote, online exams.

The “heavy use” of take-home essays is identified as a particular challenge for the UK sector, with the report pointing out that much of Europe makes greater use of the interactive oral viva.

The impact ripples beyond academia, with the report suggesting employers are having to conduct additional tests to assess graduate applicants’ suitability for jobs.

It gives the example of the creation of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam in 2021, which replaced exams that had been administered up until then by university law schools.

At the time, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said the move was necessary to ensure all aspiring solicitors “are assessed to a consistent standard”.

As well as calling for an end to unsupervised exams, the report also recommends a return to in-person assessment, more “detailed” degree classifications to evidence what a graduate has actually learned, and the creation of a set of key independent and evidence-based training standards for UK university educators.

Also endorsing the report, Vince Cable, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “To maintain public confidence in the value of a degree, and the societal benefits of higher education, the higher education sector must urgently and significantly overhaul its assessment system.

“In-person examination should replace remote assessment unless the latter is fully secure. Staff need rigorous training in the design of modern, AI-proof, assessment methods, which need to be transparent for students, employers and other stakeholders, so that everyone can be confident in how a graduate was assessed, and what that means.”

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com