Rationale for Retiring Turnitin

Following consultation and approval by the University Executive Board, the University plans to retire Turnitin Feedback Studio upon the end of the current contract on 31 July 2027. Blackboard Assignment with SafeAssign will become the single system for online coursework submission and marking. The reasons for this decision are set out below.

Please note: In order to ensure that the University has copies of all student-submitted work in its archive, even though the contract does not formally end until 31 July 2027, no new Turnitin submissions will be able to be made after the end of Semester 1 in the 2026/27 academic year.

Enhancing the student experience

The University currently operates two parallel systems for coursework submission. These are Turnitin and Blackboard Assignment. This can create confusion for students who must navigate different interfaces depending on the module and generates a high volume of last-minute support calls linked to Turnitin use. This is evidenced by both the number of support tickets at peak coursework submission times and by analysis of National Student Survey comments. Blackboard Assignment already handles approximately one-third of all submissions across the University and offers comparable functionality to Turnitin in several areas, including in-text commenting, quick-mark equivalents, and rubric-based marking.

Data Protection Concerns

A data protection impact assessment conducted by the University's Information Compliance Manager recently identified several concerns regarding Turnitin's compliance with the UK GDPR. These concerns were sufficiently serious to be escalated to the Chief Operating Officer. Key issues include:

• Inability to return all personal data at contract end relating to both student and marker.
• Turnitin retains students' submissions indefinitely within its database for the purposes of similarity matching. The proportionality of this retention, and whether adequate transparency is provided to students about it, were flagged as concerns in the DPIA.
• Turnitin's newer add-on product, Turnitin Clarity, captures significantly more granular behavioural data, including keystroke patterns, typing speed, pause duration, and complete video recording of the drafting process. Adopting such a product would substantially increase the University's data protection exposure. In addition, the use of a product like Turnitin Clarity raises significant ethical questions about the use of AI to effectively conduct surveillance.

Records retention and regulatory compliance

The Office for Students requires universities to retain students' coursework for up to 9 years. With approximately 60,000 assignments submitted annually through Turnitin and feedback not exportable, continuing to rely on Turnitin creates a growing compliance risk.

Diminishing value of plagiarism detection

Traditional plagiarism detection works by matching submitted text against a database of existing sources. Generative AI produces original text that does not match any prior source, rendering similarity checking largely ineffective against the most significant current integrity risk. While Turnitin has introduced AI detection capabilities, these remain probabilistic rather than conclusive and carry a recognised risk of false positives, particularly for non-native English speakers. The University's position is that assessment design, rather than detection technology, is the most effective long-term response to generative AI.

Alternative provision

Blackboard Assignment with SafeAssign provides similarity checking and supports rubric-based marking, in-text feedback and annotation tools. Grammarly Authorship, included in the University's existing Grammarly licence, offers authorship reporting and functionality that allows students to demonstrate the authenticity of their work. An AI conversation tool has been available in Blackboard for 18 months. These tools collectively provide the capabilities the University requires without the data protection risks or duplication associated with maintaining Turnitin, including the additional cost.