By Nyx Osborne Sandford, News Subeditor
The anti-plagiarism software is widely used by British universities, including the University of Bristol, where it is required to submit assessments through the software.
Turnitin announced plans in early July to update its End User License Agreement (EULA) to allow the use of students’ submitted work for ‘improving or developing AI tools and other products, features, or services.’
The change would jeopardise students’ ownership of their works, since students would be forced to grant Turnitin a license to use their work for training AI tools and products, or else wouldn’t be able to submit work for assessment and so risk failing.
This would break with the University of Bristol’s current position that students maintain ownership of all work submitted to Turnitin, and is also at odds with the University’s assurance that the content of work submitted to Turnitin will not be used for commercial gain.
Lenny Osler
The change has since been postponed for the duration of the 2026/27 academic year while Turnitin consults higher education groups UCISA and APUC, although several universities have taken action already.
The University of Southampton announced that it will not renew its contract with Turnitin after the 2026/27 academic year, and the University of Sussex announced discussions with Turnitin surrounding the proposed changes.
Other universities, like the University of York, are experiencing pressure from their Students’ Union to end contracts with Turnitin over the proposed change, while the change has been condemned by academics as a step towards the ‘assetisation’ of academic work for the educational technology industry’s profit.
Turnitin has yet to confirm if the proposed changes will be implemented in the next academic year.
A Bristol SU spokesperson said:
"As your Officer Team, we are aware of the concerns regarding the impact of the proposed change to Turnitin's policy on students and want to assure you that it is on our radar. We are committed to working closely with the university to represent students voice and feedback via our democratic forums. We will continue to work closely with the university on education matters, including assessments and feedback. You can reach out to our elected Full-Time Officers or your academic reps if you'd like to provide feedback."
The University of Bristol has been contacted for comment.
Featured Image: Epigram / Sophie Maclaren
Would you be happy for Turnitin to use your work in this way?
