The analytical paper suggests that written assignments remain particularly vulnerable to various dishonest
practices – plagiarism being the most conspicuous. At least 50% of Belarusian students plagiarise. They commit all varieties of plagiarism, although “compiled” and “copy-paste” plagiarisms occur most frequently. It is very likely that a significant percentage of Belarusian students studying at Western-type universities also resort to plagiarism.

BELARUSDIGEST > PAPER > ANALYTICAL PAPER: PLAGIARISM AMONG BELARUSIAN STUDENTS. CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS, CONSEQUENCES, AND SOLUTIONS

Analytical paper: Plagiarism among Belarusian students. Contributory factors, consequences, and solutions

23 April 2019

The Ostrogorski Centre presents a new analytical paper “Plagiarism among Belarusian students: Contributory factors, consequences, and solutions”, written by Vadim Mojeiko and Piotr Rudkouski.

The paper primarily based on suggestions made during a conference on reform of Belarusian higher education held on 27 December 2018 in Minsk, organised by the Ostrogorski Centre.

Dedicated to the issues of higher education and its reforms in Belarus, the conference allowed academics, practitioners and administrators to discuss the existing problems and possible solutions. The main topics concerned new forms of practice-oriented business education at the masters level, modernization of higher education at entrepreneurial university framework, reforms of Belarusian scientific research, and the issue of plagiarism at Belarusian universities.

The analytical paper suggests that written assignments remain particularly vulnerable to various dishonest
practices – plagiarism being the most conspicuous. At least 50% of Belarusian students plagiarise. They commit all varieties of plagiarism, although “compiled” and “copy-paste” plagiarisms occur most frequently. It is very likely that a significant percentage of Belarusian students studying at Western-type universities also resort to plagiarism.

There is remarkable tolerance of plagiarism within the Belarusian education system. Lecturers are generally lenient when it comes to punishments for plagiarism. There are no critical thinking and/or academic writing courses, which would introduce students to good practices in respect of finding and processing data.

The current system requires that students produce a large number of written essays, but it does not give them tools for doing so appropriately. This is a chief contributory factor in plagiarism.