Save the article
200 seconds has exposed extensive cheating in several foreign medical textbooks in Eastern Europe.
Now the universities are responding to the criticism.
“Cheating is a global problem and to completely eradicate it is an unrealistic expectation,” writes Smuidra Žermanos, vice-dean for international students at the Faculty of Medicine at Riga Stradins University.
Aftonbladet has interviewed students who attend four different universities in Europe.
Their stories are strikingly similar: widespread systematic cheating, flawed practice and an education that they believe is of no quality at all.
We have contacted the schools concerned, who deny that widespread cheating exists.
None of them show up for an interview, but ask to receive the questions by email.
This is how they answered.
Latvia:
Riga Stradins university does not want to answer 200 second questions on the phone or in real life, but instead answers by email.
Smuidra Žermanos, vice-dean for international students at the Faculty of Medicine, says that no university can escape cheating, but they work hard to minimize it.
“Every dishonest act is recorded, investigated and the person held accountable. We do not agree that cheating is widespread,” she writes.
In contrast to Aftonbladet’s sources, she claims that questions on all exams are updated from semester to semester, which means that it is not possible to cheat.
200 seconds did not get answers to the questions asked, so went to Riga to see if we could have a chat with Smuidra Žermanos. She turned the reporters away and asked them to email back.
Lithuania: denies
LSMU writes that their education ranks with top educations, both in Europe and globally. They believe that they strive for high academic integrity and therefore have zero tolerance for dishonesty.
The university denies that they are involved in widespread cheating, and that if they find any student copying, plagiarizing or cheating, they will be rejected from the university.
They state that 10 students in the medical program have had to leave the university in the last six years due to academic dishonesty.
They also claim that their internships are top notch.