A third of university students admit they have cheated by lifting ideas from books or the internet, said a recent survey for the Times Higher Education Supplement. One in ten said they had searched online for essay material.

Academics are becoming concerned at the burgeoning cut-and-paste culture and are determined to stamp it out. Many universities have adopted anti-plagiarism software, such as Turnitin, which trawls through billions of websites looking for similarities in language between a student’s work and existing data online.

And now, the vice-chancellors organisation, Universities UK, is to hold a conference in London next month to discuss plagiarism. “We fear that what we see now is probably the tip of the iceberg and that most plagiarism is not being detected,” says Brian Salter, academic registrar of King’s College, London.

Leading academics say that many students are not even aware they are guilty of intellectual theft. Some universities now hold classes in study skills and ask students to submit coursework with a signed declaration that the material is original. Middlesex University takes a robust line: students caught plagiarising are asked to pay a £190 fine and resubmit the work.

At some universities, students are encouraged to use anti-plagiarism software on their own work as a way of raising awareness. Others are shifting the method of assessment, using more multiple-choice papers rather than relying on essays alone.

“Institutions do need to set out exactly what they mean by plagiarism and they have to make sure students are aware of it,” Salter says.

The latest challenge for universities is the custom-written essay. Students with £180 to spare can order a 1,500-word, 2:1-standard essay from websites such as Ukessays and Academicdb.com.

Tutors are growing wise to this ruse too, looking for changes in writing style or dramatic improvements in grades. Jude Carroll, deputy director of the Centre for Excellence in Academia at Oxford Brookes, says: “If a custom-written essay is suspected we can bring in the student to discuss it. We might ask them how they got hold of sources or ask them to read to page four of the essay. Often they read it as if they have never encountered it before.”

How to avoid plagiarism: www.uk-student.net/

Ukessays quotes £1,200 for a 10,000-word dissertation.

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