Student Officers Oppose Turnitin Proposal

On Thursday 1 October the University of St Andrews Union posted an open letter on their social media, signed by 87 student officers from across the UK, opposing Turnitin’s proposal to update their End User License Agreement (EULA). According to the open letter, Turnitin’s proposed changes will “permit them to use submitted student work to train artificial intelligence systems.”

The open letter posted by the Union expressed concern and disapproval over the proposed EULA changes, calling it “a fundamental challenge to the principals of academic integrity, intellectual ownership, informed consent, and ethical data use.” The proposed change to the EULA was supposed to take place on 14 July, 2026. However, following backlash from institutions and students across the UK, Turnitin has decided to pause the rollout of the new EULA until 1 September, 2027. 

According to a recent article in Times Higher Education, Turnitin has denied “using ‘customer or student work’ to train its in-house composition tool, Turnitin Clarity, which features an AI assistant.”  

A Turnitin spokesperson told Times Higher Education that the software “may use anonymised student submissions” to “improve” its detection and assessment tools. The spokesperson maintained that “privacy, safety and security” remain part of their “core principles.”

Universities across the UK are already beginning to question whether or not they will continue to use Turnitin. In a public statement, the University of Southampton announced that they will not be renewing their contract with Turnitin beyond this academic year and will begin phasing out the service immediately. In the statement, the University cited “a responsibility to protect the data, intellectual property and academic work of both our students and the University” as the reason for the termination of their contract.

According to Times Higher Education, Newcastle University and the University of Westminster are following in the footsteps of Southampton as they announced that they too will terminate their contract after this academic year.

President of Education Emily Bannister stated: “I have strongly advocated against Turnitin’s proposal to the University and put pressure on [the University] to respond. I have prioritised regular meetings with the Vice Principal Education (Proctor) and Data Protection Officer on this matter, and will continue to do so moving forward.” 

Bannister continued, “I have brought together Student Unions from across the UK to demand that Turnitin abandons this policy and engages directly with the students whose work it seeks to use. We are also calling on the UK government and devolved administrations to protect students by preventing tertiary institutions from supporting platforms that harvest student work to train artificial intelligence systems.”

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons