WKU Been Hotbed of Academic Misconduct

From the Winter 2023 semester through the Spring 2025 semester, Wenzhou-Kean University recorded 50 incidents of academic misconduct, with the College of Business accounting for the highest percentage.

According to the student handbook developed by Wenzhou-Kean University, academic misconduct is categorized into four levels at WKU. The range from minor infractions to serious violations, with severe cases will face suspension or expulsion. The handbook explicitly prohibits plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsification of data, and substituting for others on exams.

Although the school clearly explains these four levels in freshman orientation and GE1000 courses, academic misconduct still exists on campus.

“During an elective sociology exam, I saw a completely unfamiliar face walk into the classroom to participate in the exam.” Julia Aviles, a senior psychology major, said. “At first I was confused, then my friend explained to me that at WKU there are some students to pay someone else to sit an exam in their place.” Julia had studied at Rutgers University in the United States before coming to WKU, but she had never heard of such things before, so she thought it was a very crazy behavior.

In addition to this crazy behavior, there are some common methods of cheating. The student from environmental science major named Wang Chenyu, and a finance major student Huang Xiandi, said they found there are some students take cell phones or cheat sheets during closed-book exams.

Wang Chenyu is showing how students who cheat bring their cheat sheets into the exam, Wenzhou-Kean University, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Photo/Fu Xinyu) 2025/05/10

Senior Director of Teaching and Learning at WKU, Guan Yanqun,also confirmed that carrying cell phones during exams and substituting for others are indeed the most common academic misconduct on campus. According to her, there are ten incidents of academic misconduct under investigation at WKU for the spring 2025 semester, and all of them are from the College of Business. She attributes these behaviors to academic stress, students not studying hard enough or professors not being strict enough in proctoring exams.

Students are still studying in study halls late at night due to immense academic pressure, SLAC, Monday, May 12, 2025. (Photo/Fu Xinyu) 2025/05/12

Guan explained that WKU has not proposed any major changes to academic integrity policies, largely because they are aligned with Kean University in the United States and have been in place for many years. However, guan said WKU will still make periodic adjustments to the policy based on the actual situation.