TORONTO, ON. (July 6, 2016) -- Kira Talent, creator of Kira Academic, the first video admissions platform for higher education, today announces the results of its Admissions Fraud Report. Conducted this spring, the study collected data from a variety of academic admissions professionals across 50 business schools in North America through an anonymous online survey. This data revealed a stark reality -- only 30 percent of schools have a process in place to prevent and detect admissions fraud, leaving 70 percent of schools vulnerable to the problem.
Although 84 percent of respondents agree that plagiarism in written components of admissions applications is an issue, the majority of schools are not actively trying to solve it. Results also showed that just 24 percent of schools report a clearly defined policy on what constitutes "fraud" in admissions.
Additionally, the survey points to a common feeling of denial among schools when it comes to admissions fraud -- 88 percent of admissions professionals polled believe that application fraud could be a problem at other schools, but only half believe that it could happen at their institution.
"At Kira, we want to help schools connect with students that will succeed in their program and beyond, which inspired us to take the lead on this admissions fraud research initiative," said Andrew Hastings, Research Director at Kira Talent. "The startling results prove that many schools are not prepared for the threat of fraudulent applications -- and don't believe it can happen to them. The danger here is that admissions fraud deteriorates the caliber of your classroom, the success of your students, and the reputation of your school."
Using the data collected, Kira identified four main ways schools can improve fraud detection and prevention:
- Education - Only 12 percent of schools offer educational content, like webinars and blog posts, on plagiarism, fair use and intellectual property in order to clarify the consequences of application fraud for potential applicants.
- Detection - Just 17 percent of schools surveyed run applicants' written materials through plagiarism detection software prior to admitting them into their programs.
- Verification - While 92 percent of respondents use interviews in the admissions process as a way to verify applicants' communication skills, only one in four verify the identity of their applicants during the interview.
- Tracking - Fewer than 20 percent of schools track and record all incidents of application fraud during the application process in a shared database.
To read the full Kira Admissions Fraud Report, visit https://blog.kiratalent.com/kira-admissions-fraud-report-2016/.
For more information about Kira Talent, please visit www.kiratalent.com.
About the study:
This study was conducted by the team at Kira Talent in spring 2016. Data was collected in the form of an assessment sent to a variety of anonymous academic admissions contacts. Participants were given a list of multiple choice questions regarding their stance on admissions fraud, as well as a series of questions about their existing process. It was completed by fifty participants in unique locations, 19 of which identified themselves as current Kira users.
Media Contact
Savannah Dale
Kira Talent
savannah@kiratalent.com