The Effect of Postgraduate Students’ Academic Cheating in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania: Implications and Lessons

Maintaining academic integrity in higher learning institutions is very important. This is because academic cheating had many effects on students, teachers, individual schools, and the education system at large. The paper investigated the effect of postgraduate students’ academic cheating in higher learning institutions in Tanzania with a focus on the implications and lessons. The participants involved postgraduate students (master’s degree students) from four universities in two-degree programmes, namely; education and social sciences. Data were collected through focus group discussions. The results show that academic cheating results in incompetent postgraduates, discontinuation from studies, loss of academic credibility and integrity, tarnishing the image of a university, and presence of dishonest employees. If immediate measures are not taken to stop the problem of cheating among postgraduate students, students graduating from postgraduate programmes and their respective higher learning institutions will no longer be trusted by the society. Therefore, this study recommends that a holistic approach should be employed by different parties, including faculty members, students and education stake holders to end this problem so as to maintain the quality of education offered by higher learning institutions. Keywords: Academic cheating, effects, postgraduate students, higher learning institutions, Tanzania DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-24-10 Publication date:August 31st 2020