Edubirdie Banned from Universities Across the Globe
Edubirdie is an online website that connects students with freelance writers who can help complete various types of academic writing assignments for a fee. The legitimacy and ethics of edubirdie’s services have been called into question, resulting in many universities explicitly banning and blocking the site. Let’s take a deeper look at why edubirdie has faced so much backlash and opposition from educational institutions around the world.
How Edubirdie Works
Edubirdie operates on a freelancing model where students can upload details about an essay, research paper, lab report, or other written schoolwork and solicit bids from freelance writers wanting to complete the work. Students select a writer and pay a fee, often ranging from $10-30 per page of finished content. The writer then completes the assignment from scratch or edits/improves a partial draft submitted by the student. Once finished, the paper is uploaded back to the student who can then submit it to their teacher or professor as their own work.
On the surface, this model provides a way for time-strapped or struggling students to outsource writing tasks. Critics argue that edubirdie crosses important ethical lines by enabling contract cheating and misrepresenting someone else’s work as the student’s own. Additionally, there are concerns about quality control and variability in writer skills/qualifications across edubirdie’s large freelancer network.
Reasons Universities are Banning Edubirdie
The top reasons universities have rallied against edubirdie and blocked access to their networks include:
Academic Dishonesty – By definition, contracting writers to complete assignments that will be submitted under a student’s name constitutes cheating. This undermines academic integrity.
Plagiarism Risks – While writers are supposed to work from scratch, submitting work not fully original to the student raises plagiarism flags that can damage their record.
Skill/Quality Variability – With an open freelance model, writers’ qualifications and abilities are inconsistent. Poor quality work could still pass as the student’s.
False Learning – Having someone else complete coursework means the student does not genuinely learn the material. This takes an educational institution’s focus away from learning.
Unfair Advantage – Students using writing services essentially “buy” better grades than earned, which is an unfair advantage over those who complete their own work honestly.
Commercialization of Education – Allowing contract cheating sites promotes the idea that grades can simply be purchased rather than learned, which some see as detrimental to the integrity of educational degrees/certifications.
Documented Cases of Universities Banning Edubirdie
Specific documented cases of universities taking action against edubirdie and sites like it include:
The University of Auckland (New Zealand) – Explicitly banned edubirdie and warned students against using any academic ghostwriting services in 2018.
University of Sussex (UK) – Blocked edubirdie and similar sites from their network and warned students of consequences like expulsion for any involvement in contract cheating in 2019.
Queensland University of Technology (Australia) – Held educational workshops for students stressing the harms of essays sites and added edubirdie and others to their official banned list.
University of NSW (Australia) – Posted clear messages to students that essay writing services are not allowed and will result in disciplinary action if caught using edubirdie or same.
University of South Carolina (US) – Explicitly called out edubirdie by name in communications warning students about turning in work not their own or face suspension or expulsion.
Temple University (US) – Blocked edubirdie and essay writing service domains across campus servers and WiFi as part of their zero-tolerance academic integrity policies.
Legal Actions and Criticism of Edubirdie
In addition to universities banning edubirdie’s use, the company has faced legal issues and strong criticism. For example:
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against edubirdie in 2019 over allegations of misleading consumers about the process and passing off ghostwritten work as ethically sourced.
The CEO and co-founder of edubirdie, Keith Meek, was publicly criticized by academics for ethically dubious business practices of assisting contract cheating.
Essay writing professors have published exposes revealing major plagiarism, factual errors, and lack of credible sources in edubirdie submissions, questioning quality control.
Critics argue the company simply pivots names when facing bans/pressure but continues the same unethical ghostwriting services via new domain names/brands.
Prominent bodies like the International Center for Academic Integrity have labeled edubirdie and similar sites as enabling serious breaches of scholarship values held by educational institutions worldwide.
Edubirdie’s opaque freelance writing model and enabling of contract cheating is why the company has faced extensive and widespread bans, as well as important critiques and even legal challenges from authorities dedicated to academic integrity. Most universities now clearly prohibit companies assisting students in hiring ghostwriters to complete course assignments. The future of edubirdie and similar essay mill sites remains uncertain as governments and schools continue campaigns against the practice of students outsourcing and passing off others’ work as their own.
Andrew Stroud