Nearly 50,000 university students in the UK have been caught cheating in the last three years, according to new figures.

Students from outside the EU were four times more likely to cheat in exams and coursework essays, freedom of information data obtained by the Times found.

The figures, from 129 UK universities, revealed 362 students were dismissed because of cheating - making up 1% of those found guilty of misconduct.

Eleven institutions each caught 1,000 or more students cheating over the three-year period, with Kent University finding the most guilty at 1,947.

Five students were even caught arranging for someone else to sit their exams.
Foreign non-EU students made up 35% of all cases but accounted for just 12% of the student population, requests from 70 universities showed.

At Queen Mary University of London, some 75% of postgraduates found plagiarising were from abroad, including a third from China.

One university professor said he believed the use of professional essay writers, widely available on the internet, was on the rise.

Professor Geoffrey Alderman of the University of Buckingham told the paper: "What I'd call type-1 plagiarism, copying and pasting, is on the wane because it's so easy to detect.

"But my impression is that type-2 cheating, using a bespoke essay-writing service, is increasing."
Such services can charge hundreds of pounds for essays, dissertations and model exam answers written by professional lecturers up to doctorate level.