Off the wire
• Oil prices rally on hopes of supply cut extension  • Greek president congratulates Macron for winning French presidential elections  • Half of U.S. non-homeowners expect to buy homes in five years: Gallup  • Kenya urges Africa to use vast postal network to deepen financial inclusion  • Roundup: Iraqi forces close in on Mosul with bit-by-bit push  • Roundup: Macron's victory brings relief to some European allies  • British FTSE 100 rises 0.05 pct on Monday  • Tanzanian central bank revokes banking license of FBME over laundering  • Oil prices rally on hopes of supply cut extension  • Sinclair Broadcast Group to buy Tribune Media for 3.9 billion dollars  
You are here: 　 Home

No cheating found on spring national entrance exams in Sweden

Xinhua, May 8, 2017 Adjust font size:

Some 65,000 people took Sweden's national university entrance exam this spring without signs of cheating, according to the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR), Swedish public television broadcaster SVT reported Monday.

The national entrance exam was a heated topic in recent years because of widespread cheating. Organized leagues that charge thousands of dollars to help people cheat had stepped up their marketing efforts, to the point where they openly advertised the service on Facebook.

In May last year, an investigative news program on SVT discovered that 87 people paid more than 10,000 U.S. dollars for top results.

One company wanted 11,000 U.S. dollars to help clients cheat their way to a 1.9 on the national entrance exam. The highest possible grade is a 2.0.

In an e-mail to SVT, the company said it had helped more than 100 people, many of whom are studying medicine or law.

But UHR could not find any indications of cheating on this spring's test, according to a press release issued by the council.

"The analyses of this spring's answers did not give any unusual answer patterns like those we discovered in the fall test. Nor did any of the proctors catch anyone in the act of cheating on April 1," said Tuula Kuosmanen, head of the department for analysis, promotion and admission at UHR.

In 2016, the rules for taking national entrance exam were sharpened. The government changed the Higher Education Ordinance, and in August UHR issued new rules, including the right to block cheaters from taking the test for two years. All different types of cheating are punishable and a conviction means fines or jail up to six months.

In November, 51 people were caught cheating on the fall exam. UHR had set a trap by sending out different versions of the test to exam sites in three different cities. When analyzing the answers, they found 51 cases of unusual answer patterns. The order in the answer sheet was wrong and the cheaters were exposed. Enditem