Thai university orders students to retake exams after smartwatch cheating scam

More than 3,000 medical students at a Thai university have been ordered to retake entrance exams after a high-tech cheating scam came to light.At least two students at Rangsit University were caught using camera-equipped glasses to film the test papers and transmitting the footage to an outside team at a tutoring institute that promised students a 100% success rate in passing exams.

The correct answers to the questions were then sent electronically by the outside team to smartwatch-wearing students inside the exam hall, the Bangkok Post reports.

A university investigation revealed that the camera glass-wearing students were proxies paid to take the exams. They left the exam hall 45 minutes after the exam began so they could transmit the footage of the test papers to the outside team.

One of the cheating students is reported to have paid 50,000 baht (£1,000; $1,400) as a deposit to receive the correct answers.

Rangsit University announced on 9 May that the exam results had been annulled and that all students must retake the tests on 31 May and 1 June. Three students have been barred from attending them.

Lucrative career path

"The university has put the three students on the blacklist and they won't be able to apply for seats with us again. I cannot say whether they will be allowed to take exams at other universities," Rangsit administrator Arthit Ourairat was quoted as saying.

The university has filed a police complaint in Pathum Thani province against the three students, who are to meet with investigators on 10 May.

However, a local police chief said they could not take legal action against the students as they had only breached university rules.

Medicine is a lucrative career path in Thailand – one of the most popular countries for medical tourism in the world.

A number of universities in the UK, US and Australia have banned smartwatches at exam halls in an effort to curb cheating.