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Spicken, plagiieren, fälschen: Eine Studie erhebt erstmals Daten zum Schummeln im Studium. Danach täuschen vier von fünf Studenten. Fast nie fliegt der Schwindel auf.
Schummeln gehört an der Uni zum Alltag. Der Spickzettel unter der Sitzbank, die Hausarbeit aus dem Internet oder der Laborbericht, in dem die Messergebnisse ein klein wenig aussagekräftiger gemacht wurden, als es das Experiment hergibt – sie alle sind keine Einzelfälle an deutschen Universitäten. Das zeigt eine neue Studie, die erstmals empirische Daten zum Schummeln unter mehreren Tausend Studenten und Dozenten erhoben hat und vorab exklusiv ZEIT CAMPUS vorliegt.
Das Ergebnis: 79 Prozent aller Studenten haben innerhalb eines Semesters mindestens einmal geschummelt, knapp jeder fünfte hat mindestens ein Plagiat abgegeben. Erwischt wird kaum jemand: 94 Prozent der Plagiatoren bleiben unentdeckt, trotz der Aufregung über die Doktorarbeiten des früheren Verteidigungsministers Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg oder der Europapolitikerin Silvana Koch-Mehrin.
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Die Fairuse-Studie wurde von Soziologen der Universität Bielefeld und der Universität Würzburg im Auftrag des Bundesbildungsministeriums durchgeführt. Die Wissenschaftler fragten bewusst nicht nur nach Plagiaten, sondern auch nach anderen Verstößen gegen die Prüfungsordnung. "So wie in den Medien über studentischen Betrug diskutiert wird, sind die Naturwissenschaften fein raus", sagt Sebastian Sattler, Projektleiter der Studie. "Über das Fälschen und Erfinden von Messergebnissen redet niemand. Dabei betrifft es etwa ein Drittel aller Naturwissenschaftler und Mediziner." Zudem schreiben 37 Prozent aller befragten Studenten in Klausuren vom Nachbarn ab, bei den Medizinern sind es sogar zwei Drittel.
Zufriedene Studenten schummeln seltener als unzufriedene
Ein herausragendes Schummelfach gibt es laut der Fairuse-Studie allerdings nicht. Ob und auf welche Art geschummelt wird, hängt vor allem von der Art der Prüfung ab – und davon, wie die befragten Studenten mit ihrem Studium zurechtkommen. Zufriedene Studenten schummeln demnach seltener als unzufriedene. Zum Täuschen neigt dagegen eher, wer gestresst ist, starken Konkurrenzdruck empfindet oder mit Prüfungsangst kämpft. Das gilt für alle Arten des Schummelns und für alle Fächer. Und auch diejenigen, die sich mit ihrem Fach und dessen Methoden auskennen, sind ehrlicher.
Damit bestätigt die Studie, was Experten schon länger vermutet haben. "Im Bereich Prävention und Methodenlehre gibt es in Deutschland noch Verbesserungspotenzial, das muss sich durchs ganze Studium ziehen", sagte der Vorsitzende des Wissenschaftsrats, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Marquardt, schon vor Bekanntwerden der Ergebnisse ZEIT CAMPUS.
Studienleiter Sebastian Sattler sieht zudem die Dozenten in der Pflicht. Diese beschränken sich laut der Ergebnisse der Fairuse-Studie oft auf ein Minimum an Prävention. Nur ein kleiner Teil derjenigen, die an ihrer Universität Zugang zu einer Plagiatssoftware haben, nutzen diese auch. Und nicht mal jeder vierte befragte Hochschullehrer gibt Sätze aus Hausarbeiten stichprobenartig bei Google oder anderen Suchmaschinen ein.
Professoren in der Pflicht
Zwar sagten fast alle, sie achteten bei Klausuren darauf, dass ihre Studenten weit auseinander säßen und keine Smartphones dabei hätten. Aber nur eine Minderheit verteilt unterschiedliche Klausurversionen, in denen die Fragen anders sortiert sind, um das Abschauen zu erschweren. Das liegt neben dem Zeitmangel der Dozenten laut Sattler auch daran, dass viele einen Generalverdacht ihren Studenten gegenüber vermeiden wollen, um das Lehrklima zu schonen.
Der Soziologe warnt davor, das Schummeln an deutschen Universitäten kleinzureden, auch wenn ein hastiger Blick auf die Klausur des Nachbars eine andere Qualität habe, als ein wochenlang ausgetüfteltes Plagiat. "Es wird viel Geld in die Bildung investiert – wenn Leute betrügen, ist das eine Fehlinvestition", sagt  Sattler. "Zudem sollen an der Uni nicht nur Stoffe, sondern auch Werte vermittelt werden. Nicht zufällig gibt es in vielen Berufen Probleme mit Korruption, Diebstahl am Arbeitsplatz oder unzuverlässiger Zeitabrechnung. Das verursacht einen volkswirtschaftlichen Schaden. Und irgendwo fängt die Bereitschaft zu betrügen an."
Zwischen 2009 und 2012 haben Sattler und seine Kollegen in mehreren Erhebungswellen zwischen 2.000 und 6.000 Studenten sowie rund 1.400 Dozenten anonym befragt. Ihre wichtigsten Ergebnisse werden in der neuen Ausgabe von ZEIT CAMPUS abgedruckt, eine vollständige Publikation der Studie ist für September 2012 geplant.

By Kelly Heyboer and Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger. With great fanfare, Kean University and Chinese officials broke ground last March on the first foreign campus of the New Jersey institution, to be built at Wenzhou University in Zhejiang Province.
Amid ceremonial drummers, colorful dragon dancers and yards of bright red bunting, school officials turned over shovels of dirt to mark the start of construction of a massive new campus that will ultimately enroll 5,000 full-time Chinese students who will earn degrees from Kean. The university, however, never sought accreditation for the high-profile Far East venture from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education — which has already placed Kean on probation for failure to meet academic standards.
Now the accrediting agency wants to know why. Kean is already on shaky ground with Middle States, a powerful independent agency with the ability to strip a school of its vital accreditation if a campus runs afoul of its rules. New questions about one of its projects does not help matters.
"The university has been told on several occasions that they must go through the substantive change process," said Richard Pokrass, a spokesman for the commission. "They have not done that. They have not submitted anything in writing."
Without Middle States’ approval, it is likely the deal to build the China campus would fall apart. An accredited program was one of Kean’s key selling points when it made the deal with the Chinese government to build the campus. But Kean officials insist they are in full compliance with Middle States’ rules and are moving ahead with plans to offer classes in Wenzhou this fall to their first 200 Chinese students. Kean, a four-year public university in Union Township with 16,000 students, has spent the last year dealing with internal turmoil amid the growing concerns of Middle States — which has cited the school for violating numerous academic and ethical rules.
Last year, the commission warned Kean that its academic standing was in jeopardy for failing to meet accreditation standards in several key areas during a periodic review. Then, the faculty union — which has a long history of discord with the president — discovered what it said were serious misrepresentations in president Dawood Farahi’s résumé. He later admitted there were mistakes, but claimed they were the fault of unidentified Kean staff members. While the Kean board of trustees narrowly backed the president by a 7-4 vote with one abstention, one trustee resigned in the wake of the vote to keep him in office.
Last month, Middle States’ board voted to put Kean on formal probation after its reviewers returned to campus and found additional problems.
The prospect of losing accreditation has serious consequences for both a university and its students. Students at schools stripped of their accreditation may not be able to get financial aid, transfer their credits to other colleges or use their degrees to attend graduate school.
The focus by Middle States on the China program came in a letter to the university sent last month, requesting additional information about the new campus.
Putting Kean in China has been a long-time goal of Farahi. As far back as 2006, Kean officials were working on an agreement to establish a branch campus in Wenzhou (pronounced Wun-jo or Wen-chou), a port city on the East China Sea south of Shanghai.
After a series of setbacks, work finally began on the campus this year in a well-publicized ground breaking, with plans to enroll as many as 5,000 full-time students by fall 2016. Kean has already hired several faculty members to work in China and a pilot program with 200 Chinese students is set to begin this fall, school officials said.
"Our Wenzhou partners remain fully confident that Kean will meet all the standards for Middle States accreditation and will succeed in obtaining Middle States approval for the establishment of our branch campus in Wenzhou," said Matt Caruso, a Kean spokesman. But in their most recent letter to Kean, Middle States officials noted the university has already appointed a new board of directors for the Wenzhou-Kean University campus and has begun construction. Pokrass, the Middle States’ spokesman, said the university has not requested approval for the project, as is required for any "substantive change" to an accredited school.
"Given what’s going on, they need to get this material to the commission as soon as possible," said Pokrass.
Kean officials argue, under their interpretation of Middle State’s rules, they are in compliance. Caruso said the university does not need to apply for approval of the China campus until the program is more established and students are earning more than 50 percent of their credits toward a degree in Wenzhou.
"We are offering less than the threshold for the moment," Caruso said.
Members of the Kean Federation of Teachers, the university’s faculty union, said they have repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the China campus. Last week, the Kean Faculty Senate voted 19-4 to release a statement of "no confidence" in Farahi.
Caruso said Farahi is "disappointed" by the senate’s no-confidence vote, adding, "But his entire focus right now is on preparing and finalizing the university’s monitoring report for Middle States."

The last five years have seen an explosion in the number of English-taught degree programmes in continental Europe, according to the Institute of International Educations. This growth has been particularly noticeable in postgraduate study, its new report says, with the number of English-taught master's programmes available on the continent more than quadrupling in the last five years. We look at the 10 mainland European countries offering the most English-taught masters programmes, as listed on MastersPortal (estimated to represent 90 per cent of the total number of English-taught master's programmes on offer in Europe). "Typical" tuition fees for European students at public universities in each country are provided, as calculated by StudyPortals, but exact costs vary per programme and can be found at www.mastersportal.eu.
1. Netherlands
Holland, the Netherlands, Nederland... call it what you will, the Low Countries are the place to be for studying a master's in English on the Continent. An impressive 869 master's degrees in Holland are taught in English, albeit at just 45 institutions. Maastricht University has reported a tenfold rise in applications from Britain over the last year, with demand set to soar further when figures for 2012 are released. Typical tuition fees are around €1,720 per year.
2. Germany
Germany has the second-most English-taught master's degrees of any mainland European country, with 713. Tuition fees vary between the different Bundeslands, with some costing up to €1,100 per year, others charging nothing at all for European students. However in terms of the number of institutions offering such courses it is far ahead of the rest of Europe. 144 German universities and colleges teach master's in English, compared with just 45 from our winner...
3. Sweden
The Scandinavian countries are well-represented on this list, and foremost among them is Sweden, where 707 English-taught master's degrees are on offer. No tuition fees are charged for European students.
4. Spain
Spanish may be rivalling English as the most widely-spoken European first language in the world these days, but its universities seem to have their focus squarely on the English-speaking world. 395 English-taught master's abound in Spain – incredibly, one year ago there were only 89. Public universities charge European students around €1,500 per annum in tuition fees.
5. France
Famously protective of their native language, it's not like the French to humour les rosbifs. But when it comes to higher education it seems English is making inroads – 346 master's degrees in France are taught in English, compared with just 11 as recently as 2007. Master's degrees at French public universities charge start at around €250 per annum.
6. Switzerland
You'd think this wealthy Alpine country had enough languages on its plate, what with French, German and Italian all in common usage – but Switzerland now offers 237 English-taught master's degrees. Tuition fees in Switzerland vary between cantons, but are usually between €500 and €4,000 per year.
7. Italy
Want to enjoy la dolce vita while bolstering your academic credentials? Try one of Italy's 256 English-taught master's options. Incredibly, there were only seven such courses in the whole of Italy as recently as 2007. Public universities in Italy usually charge around €1,500 per annum for European students.
8. Belgium
With the Eurostar taking you to Brussels in less than two hours from London, enrolling on one of Belgium's 252 English-taught master's could even be a more convenient option than some far-flung British universities. Tuition fees at public universities in Belgium tend to be around €600 per annum.
9. Finland
Finland has one of the best education systems in the world, with almost half of its population holding at least an undergraduate degree – and if you don't mind the Arctic climate you can join its ranks, with 246 master's programmes taught in English. That's a steady rise from just 42 on offer back in 2007, and again public universities in Finland typically don't charge tuition fees for European students.
10. Denmark
There are 188 options for studying master's degrees in the land of Sarah Lund – a third more than there were just one year ago – with public universities typically charging no tuition fees for European students.

By Stan Lehman. THE Brazilian Senate has approved an affirmative action bill that reserves half the spots in federal universities for high school graduates of public schools, and distributes them according to the racial makeup of each state.
The Senate's news agency says the bill that was approved last week now goes to President Dilma Rousseff, who is expected to approve it.
The reserved spots will be distributed among black, mixed race and indigenous students proportionally to the racial composition of each state, the official agency said.
Sen. Paulo Paim said the bill will benefit most Brazilian students because private schools account for just one of 10 students.
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that it was constitutional for universities to use racial quotas.
Brazil has more citizens of African ancestry than any nation other than Nigeria. Fifty-one percent of Brazil's 192 million people are black or of mixed-race.
Backers say the use of scholarships, quotas and other policies aimed at getting more blacks and mixed-race Brazilians into universities is needed to right the historic wrongs of slavery, centuries of stark economic inequality and a society in which whites are overwhelmingly in leadership roles in government and business.
"The bill makes social justice with a majority of Brazil's population," said Senator Ana Rita.
Sen. Aloysio Nunes Ferreira voted against the bill, saying, "It straitjackets universities because it violates their management autonomy."