The number of students that potentially cheated on Flanders’ entrance exams to be allowed to enter medical, dental and veterinary studies has climbed to 105. A court in Brussels has appointed an expert to investigate the government’s response to the education scandal.
Education minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) announced yesterday that 105 students used the internet – including ChatGPT – to potentially cheat on the medical, dental and veterinary entrance exams. That is triple the number previously announced.
The figure represents about 1% of all students taking the exams that determine whether they can enter medical, dental or veterinary studies at university. Flanders’ Exams Commission, which administers the entrance exams every summer, has been under fire since the exams took place in early July. The computers used to administer the exams apparently allowed access to the internet, a problem easily solved, according to software experts.
You would expect that the Exams Commission would eliminate all of the students who cheated. But they have specifically said they are not going to do that
Lawyer Christophe Vangeel
The chair of the Exams Commission, Jan Eggermont, resigned last week as a result of the situation, which critics are calling a scandal. Demir is also seen to have thus far downplayed the situation.
“Every student has to have an equal chance,” to pass the exam, says lawyer Christophe Vangeel, a specialist in education law. “You would expect that the Exams Commission would want to launch a broad investigation to eliminate all of the students who cheated. But they have specifically said they are not going to do that. It’s just unbelievable.”
Vangeel is representing more than 30 students who are taking the case to court. The students took the medical studies entrance exam. Yesterday a Brussels judge appointed a court expert to examine the case. The Flemish education ministry had requested that no independent expert be appointed as it was carrying out its own investigation.
The court expert will first examine how the Flemish government is carrying out its investigation – is it happening thoroughly and correctly. The students feel this has not been the case. The court’s decision “proves that the students were right in their assumptions that fraud has taken place,” said Vangeel.
If the expert feels that the government’s investigation is not thorough, then it will carry out its own investigation into the cheating. Complicating the issue is that, while it is possible to determine if the student opened a tab on a browser during the exam, it is not possible to determine what sources were consulted on that tab.
“Mistakes were made,” Demir told the Flemish parliament yesterday. “Yes, perhaps I should have done a bit more or acted more quickly over the last year, but that didn’t work out. This situation must be solved by next year.”
25 potential cheaters to start studies
Of the more than 5,500 students who took entrance exams, 1,741 have been approved to begin their studies this month. Of those, 25 have been identified as having used the internet during the exam.
The Exams Commission has scheduled a hearing to question these students but previously announced that they would be allowed to start their studies, infuriating students who passed but are not allowed to begin studies.
While more than 1,741 students passed their exam, only those with the highest scores are allowed to enter study programmes. This is because there is more supply than demand for doctors, dentists and veterinarians. The government determines how many of these medical professionals will be needed in the coming years and sets a figure for how many can enter these programmes at university.