Hobsons and Turnitin for Admissions Join Forces to Streamline Application Management and Plagiarism Detection Efforts

Higher education technology leaders partner, enabling admissions teams to focus on enrollment rather than application quality

CINCINNATI, and OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hobsons, the leader in Enrollment Management Technology (EMT) software and iParadigms, the leading provider of plagiarism prevention solutions, today announced a partnership that enables college and university admissions offices to easily integrate content authenticity review into the admission process. The collaboration will bring together two best-in-class higher education technologies: iParadigms' Turnitin® for Admissions, a plagiarism detection software, and Hobsons' ApplyYourself online application management system. In time for the Fall 2011 application season, admissions offices will be able to leverage the power of both leading technologies via one system.  

A growing number of enrollment offices have uncovered plagiarism or fraudulent content in admissions essays. For example, when reading candidate essays last year, the MBA admissions team at the Penn State Smeal College of Business noticed an alarming repetition of content between applicant essays. The team began a time-consuming manual review process, working to evaluate the authenticity of each essay. According to Carrie Marcinkevage, the Director of MBA Admissions, eight percent of the applications reviewed included plagiarism. Today, at the Case for Change in College Admissions meeting, Jeff Lorton with Turnitin for Admissions commented, "Since our launch, we have completed several significant proof-of-concept tests with graduate and Ph.D. level personal statements. In each test, we found plagiarism, recycling, or collusion at rates averaging eight to twenty percent of the applicants, and saw similar results at all levels of university applications."

Hobsons and Turnitin for Admissions recognized this problem as an opportunity to join forces and offer campuses the ability to seamlessly integrate an automated content authentication process into enrollment management activities. Marcinkevage commented, "This year we added a first step into our admissions process, an authenticity and plagiarism review. The collaboration between Hobsons and Turnitin will make the authentication process less cumbersome for campuses. Admissions departments can simplify the authentication process, eliminating the time-consuming manual work, freeing admissions experts to focus on identifying the positive attributes that candidates might bring to their programs."

In 2010, over 550 admission offices used Hobsons' ApplyYourself to process applications. This online application process management tool enables admissions offices to streamline application processes, integrating applicant data with existing prospect systems and arming admission teams with a centralized system to drive enrollment.

Turnitin for Admissions compares submitted content to an extensive database of Internet content, subscription content, and other documents to create a comprehensive similarity report. Personal statements and other applicant-created documents are verified to help reveal plagiarism, recycled submissions, purchased documents, and other unethical content.

About Hobsons

Hobsons is a premier provider of innovative technology and integrated marketing solutions that empower education professionals to manage the entire student lifecycle including recruitment, enrollment, and retention. With end-to-end, enterprise-class products built from over thirty years of education experience and market knowledge, Hobsons helps more than 5,000 global secondary schools, colleges, and universities achieve their goals. A Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) subsidiary, Hobsons is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH with offices in Washington DC; Fairfax, VA; Oakland, CA; London, England; and Melbourne, Australia.  

For more information about Hobsons and its complete line of technology solutions, please visit www.hobsons.com.  

About iParadigms

iParadigms, LLC is the world's leading provider of web-based solutions for plagiarism prevention. The company's products also include Turnitin, used by educators worldwide to check students' papers for originality, to enable web-based peer review and for digital grading of student work. iParadigms' Turnitin for Admissions helps admissions professionals make more informed choices by uncovering plagiarism, recycled submissions, duplicate responses, purchased documents, and unoriginal content in the admissions process. iParadigms is headquartered in Oakland, CA with an international office located in Newcastle, United Kingdom. iParadigms is backed by Warburg Pincus.  http://www.iparadigms.com and http://www.turnitinadmissions.com.  

SOURCE iParadigms, LLC