Cheating Scandal Rocks Waseda University Entrance Exam

An 18-year-old man is facing charges for allegedly using camera-equipped smart glasses to cheat on an entrance exam at Tokyo's prestigious Waseda University. The suspect, a high school senior at the time of the incident, is accused of taking pictures of exam papers and posting them on social media during the February 16th entrance test for the School of Creative Science and Engineering.

According to investigators, the suspect sought assistance from users on X, formerly known as Twitter, and answered questions based on their responses. He reportedly confessed to his actions during questioning, stating that he was worried about failing to secure university admission after performing poorly on standardized tests and being rejected by national universities.

The case came to light after a person who responded to one of the suspect's online questions contacted Waseda University. The university then consulted the police after noticing a small camera in the frame of the suspect's glasses during another exam for a different faculty on February 21st. The suspect was not admitted to either faculty.

"Since the student was found to have cheated, we have invalidated his exam results," a university spokesperson said.

Waseda University's entrance exam guidelines require examinees to turn off and store all communications-capable electronic devices, including mobile phones and wearable devices.

This incident highlights the growing problem of cheating on university entrance examinations in Japan. In January 2022, a female student was referred to prosecutors for sending an image of a world history question in a unified university entrance exam to a tutoring site for assistance. Additionally, a Chinese national who passed an entrance exam for Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo the same month was found guilty of business obstruction after recording math exam questions with a micro camera and posting them on social media to solicit answers.