Universities have moved to reassure Education Minister Chris Hipkins they have stringent systems to stop students cheating on assignments, despite an African ghostwriter blowing the whistle on alleged "contract cheating" at major New Zealand institutions.

The academic, known only as ‘The Kenyan’, claims to have written hundreds of papers for Kiwi students while allegedly working for eastern China-based academic "essay writing service" Assignment Joy, the Weekend Herald reported on Saturday.

The anonymous whistleblower alleges that some New Zealand students have graduated with degrees without ever writing a single assignment.

Urgent talks are ongoing with the Government to follow Australia’s move and outlaw cheating websites and block them from local access.

Now, Education Minister Hipkins has said he’s confident that New Zealand universities are doing enough to combat contract cheating.

"I am assured that universities are aware of and have deterrents in place to help prevent students from using offshore services in this way to pass assignments," Hipkins said.

Prevention techniques include software for detecting plagiarised content, warnings when students access essay writing services on university networks, multiple assessment formats, checks for consistency, as well as educative programmes that warn students about the consequences of cheating, Hipkins said.

"In New Zealand, the Academic Quality Agency and NZQA consider these measures when quality assuring PTEs and Te...

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