Imperial amends Turnitin End User Licence Agreement statement

Earlier this month, Turnitin proposed changes to their End User Licence Agreement (EULA) that would have involved the use of student submissions to improve or develop AI tools. These were postponed after the wider Higher Education sector showed concerns regarding the privacy of student data and the potential use of student’s ideas in submissions to train large language models. 

Imperial released a statement confirming “there are no changes to how Turnitin is used at Imperial during the current academic year (2026-27) but will we use this year to continue to engage with Turnitin regarding any changes they are planning to understand the implications for our community”. 

Previously, the statement established their commitment to being transparent about how student data is collected, used, and safeguarded. Imperial College Union worked with the College to clarify their statement, which since 12 October reads “we remain committed to protecting student data and to being transparent…”, affirming Imperial’s goal of prioritising student data and privacy.