PASS (Private Academic Support Services)
About the PASS Study
This project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, looks at the increasingly prominent role of private, for-profit companies offering what we refer to as “private academic support services” (PASS), which can include paid academic tutoring, exam preparation, proofreading, and even practices like completing academic work for students. The growing prominence of PASS marketing in Canada and worldwide, especially to international students for whom English is an additional language (EAL), has occurred in tandem with the rise of the recognition of what has been called “contract cheating,” or university students “outsourcing” writing and other academic work to third parties. As a result, students’ use of these services seems to exist in an ethical grey area that is little understood by university administrators, instructors, and the general public; some consider their practices as clear violations of academic integrity, while the organizations themselves are presented as legitimate tutoring agencies that can help students achieve academic success. The current study surveys and interviews students at three major Western Canadian universities.