This is a real ad and a real page from Facebook, blatantly advertising “graduation project” ideas in the fields of electronics and communications engineering. It’s apparently a business in Irbid, which makes sense given its close the the Jordan University of Science and Technology.

“We spare you the effort of your graduation project,” says the ad’s slogan in Arabic.

This business even has a phone number. So this is not a hush-hush thing.

I have been hearing about the students buying the architectural graduation projects for some time now. Professors told me its a wide spread phenomenon.

What kind of students would do such thing?

No self respect?

I guess not. In a culture that doesn’t care about the quality of anything, I think this is normal behavior for many.

The exception is those students who believe in hard work or in having their own original ideas.

It’s depressing. But also should be illegal.

What can universities and the Ministry of Higher Education do to combat this?


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8 responses to “Why think of a graduation project when you can buy one?”

  1. wonder Avatar
    wonder

    Don’t be surprised to find projects being sold for all majors! Even around JU you can buy, edit or ask to build specific projects.
    The problem lies in our dear university Dr’s! They accept such projects! They close their eyes and authorize them, by putting high grades upon them…
    Moreover the topics written by students themselves are poor and usually not creative! And from what I saw, if students are willing to do something creative ‘’outside the box’’ they usually prohibited by their coordinators (by asking them to choose something more standard, to ease the discussions) or their grades are much lower from those who bought them … I am doing my graduate project next semester and I know that either I follow what I am told and write something entirely stupid , not creative and less interesting by following advices of my coordinator and get high grade. OR I will do something unusual , creative and challenging for me and get either low grade or same to those who put less effort ! By asking my university for a specific evaluation criteria of projects (I always wondered on what mark is based?!) I received an unclear answer ‘’ there is 15 min’s discussion with Dr’s ..They look at the format, pictures and ask you few question’’ and you get graduated! So I believe the problem is in universities that do not teach students to THINK, to DO and sadly that’s the majority in Jordan….

  2. super devoika Avatar
    super devoika

    It is quite depressing to know that such things do happen… and yes the “Higher Education” Ministry should do some thing about this… but again it has to do some things about so so many things…
    What is more alarming to me is that students do that and think they can get away with it… I remember once in one of my web design projects a student was arguing with me that it is ok to get someone to sketch her designs for her since she don’t know how to sketch… another argued that he can use already made conceptual photos in his designs and that all companies do that in real life… they think it is ok to [steal] borrow someone else ideas… and of course not mention it unless they are busted!! Or worse like today, in my Photography class a student said she had no ideas of her own so she saw a photo online and just recreated it and she said “What’s wrong with that?”… ?????
    That all goes back to the quality of students who happen to be in Universities because this is what everybody else does… How many of our students realize the meaning of this “Higher Education”? How many chose their majors? How many will depend on their degrees to make a living? How many passionately care about having a “good” career? I think our universities need cleansing… I would close many of these universities and allow less people into Higher Education… we don’t need more certificates… we don’t need brainless people… either you use your mind to the maximum or go and use your hands…
    Lately I’ve been ranting a lot about the educational institutions in Jordan… I’m sorry to rant here too… so I better shut up…

  3. Nada Avatar
    Nada

    Our whole educational system is a mess! Students are not interested in what they study, they are keeping up with technology and they are more open to the advanced world but universities are still in the 80’s or 90’s!

    I’m someone who studied at JUST, and my 5 years of engineering were just miserable! The professors (who are mostly U.S Ph.D holders) cannot be more close minded, traditional in a very boring way, and cannot care less for their students.

    I’m not generalizing here and I’m not defending the students; Many Jordanians sure like the easy way for everything!

    What this facebook page is a result of an institutionalized retarded educational system at one hand, and institutionalized irresponsibility and ignorant social standards that worship degrees at any expense!

    once again, this is not the rule…I have seen some students at my time work hard, and they have been successful in their careers or professions; I have also seen some good professors who really were able to grab their students’ attention!

  4. Hareega Avatar
    Hareega

    Certainly this should be illegal. More of these morons and Jordanian universities will lose their accreditation internationally.

    You cannot trust all students. Sure some students will refuse dealing with this ***, but if they feel that other students are getting better grades with less effort they might have no choice but to do so.

    I know a very respectable university here in the US where a lady does the homework for some college students but it’s all under-the-cover, all of these students are unfortunately Saudi.

  5. khaled gharaibeh Avatar
    khaled gharaibeh

    well, expecting something from universities and the ministry to do something is simply waste of time, we all know they will not do anything considering the degraded education performance we witness as years pass.
    I think the solution is raise the awareness among students, not only student to-graduate, but from early school times. this awareness to be done by parents/elder students/mentors…

  6. khber1 Avatar
    khber1

    في عمان ـأكثر منها فبي اربد ، المشكلة في الدكاترة المعقدة نفسياً

  7. Abdelrahman Avatar
    Abdelrahman

    I’ve just finished my graduation project, I gave it less effort than I give for any home project, And they say It was the best project have been done in the university for years!!

    I was having suspects that my university is just a place to take a paper”certificate” full of lies and go work in gulf,no matter you know what you do or not, but now unfortunately I have no suspects, my certificate is shame on me , at least I know now that this word is fair enough to put us at the bottom

    The education system in Jordan need a real change , I’ve seen brilliant students that inspired me, and they are brilliant because they work on them selves, in the other hand some of those students have low grades, which make the whole system Questionable.

  8. Eyas Avatar
    Eyas

    This is absurd. Today’s students are masters at “hacking” their ways around. They consider each pedagogical step to be a hurdle instead of a validation of their training. With a rotten education system that needs to keep the mass-production of graduates running, we end up with delegation of the most basic tests, like graduation projects.
    Bottom line: graduation projects are sold, or – for a smaller mark – recycled and non original. I personally have interviewed many fresh grad students for jobs in my past work – i was constantly shocked when they couldn’t discuss their graduation projects holistically. it was clear that it was a delegated job…

    On another front, I recommend you read this recent article about claims of plagiarism alleged against the German minister of defense. I know it’s a little unrelated to this post, but i think it still falls under the category of “cheating to make it”.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12504347