GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a statement Oct. 12, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in the Gaza Strip warned companies, offices, libraries and others against selling ready-made academic research papers and projects to undergraduate and graduate students. The statement, which did not include any accurate relevant figures or statistics, came in light of the rampant phenomenon of buying ready-made academic research papers and projects among students in Gaza.

In Palestine, 15 universities are accredited by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, five of which are in Gaza, and offer dozens of undergraduate and graduate degrees in a wide variety of majors.

After they register for the graduation research project course, students are offered ready-made research papers by the staff of bookshops and libraries that operate in the vicinity of the universities across the Gaza Strip.

A sale and marketing employee in one of the bookshops spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, saying, “It is no surprise that a library located in the vicinity of a university campus is selling ready-made research papers and projects for 600-1,000 shekels [$200-$300] for a research paper and 3,000-3,500 shekels [$800-$900] for a master’s thesis.”