But, according to documents obtained under freedom of information, the university has only been able to identify "a maximum of five students" – well below the detection rates of the other major universities implicated in the MyMaster cheating racket. In a February email updating deputy vice-chancellor Tyrone Carlin on the progression of University's internal investigation, head of student affairs Idena Rex said the "main factor" hindering the identification process "is that not all units of study in the university use Turnitin [plagiarism detection software] as part of their submission process." "As a result, it has not been possible to identify the students who bought essays through MyMaster and then submitted them for assessment in those units of study," Ms Rex continued. This contrasts with written statements by vice-chancellor Michael Spence, who in December assured the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency that the use of "advanced software detective controls" was an "important component" of the university's "robust, multi-layered strategy" in tackling ghostwriting services. "The compulsory electronic submission of assignments paired with the use of the text matching software Turnitin is widespread through the University," Dr Spence wrote in the letter, also obtained under freedom of information.

When the Herald asked the university to clarify its contrasting statements on the use of Turnitin software, a spokeswoman said: "The university has no comment on the methods used to identify students who may have engaged in misconduct at this time." Despite Dr Spence's assurances, the state's most prestigious university has lagged behind its competitors in cracking down on the cheating exposed in the MyMaster scandal, particularly when it comes to students who may have graduated with the assistance of purchased assignments. Although the university has been reticent in providing the Herald with the basic details of its internal investigation, Ms Rex's correspondence reveals the administration has eliminated from its inquiry "those who have left the university for one reason or another". By comparison, the University of Newcastle, which has penalised 31 students in connection with MyMaster, confirmed that those students who graduated last year and were yet to respond to cheating allegations risked having their degrees revoked.

In March, Macquarie University also confirmed that it was investigating 43 "current and recently graduated students". Those universities, along with the University of Technology, Sydney and the University of New South Wales – all of whom have provided Fairfax Media with comprehensive updates on the progress of their internal inquiries – cited Turnitin as key to identifying potential offending students. Newcastle's deputy vice-chancellor, Andrew Parfitt, said the university had issued 24 fail grades, two expulsions and eight suspensions, after 18 assignments revealed "high degrees of similarity" when cross-checked with Turnitin submissions. At the University of New South Wales, where 18 assignments returned matches with Turnitin, 12 students are under investigation. Another 15 students have been identified by cross-checking 53 assignments at the University of Technology, Sydney, and deputy vice-chancellor Shirley Alexander said she expected "more students to be identified shortly".

Professor Alexander said the use of Turnitin was not mandatory university policy and, although academics were "strongly encouraged" to use it, it was not "used for some assessment tasks in some subjects". "In those situations we have reviewed hard copy assignments where possible to identify the students." The University of Sydney declined to comment on whether its faculties routinely retained electronic or hard copies of students' assessment tasks for review purposes, saying only that the university "keeps records of assessments issued and results obtained by students." All universities contacted by Fairfax Media said their investigations were continuing and penalties would not be finalised until all appeal processes had been exhausted.