Background

Following recent changes proposed by Turnitin to its End-User Licence Agreement (EULA), which included new terms regarding the processing, use and ownership of student and staff data, UCL is reviewing the potential legal, contractual and operational implications.

Although Turnitin has now paused implementation of the proposed agreement, revised terms could be introduced at a later date, and it is not yet clear whether those terms will be acceptable to UCL. Discussions on this are ongoing between representative bodies (UCISA, APUC), individual institutions and Turnitin.

To reduce operational risk and avoid creating further dependency on Turnitin while this position remains unresolved, the following changes will take immediate effect.

New Turnitin assignments

As of the 21^st July 2026, it will no longer be possible to create new Turnitin assignments in Moodle. This situation will last until clarity is reached on any new contractual terms/licensing agreements. Given the proposed timeline by Turnitin, the earliest date for a return to Turnitin assignment creation being available will be November 2026.

For new assessment submissions activities, departments should use one of the following UCL supported alternatives:

Moodle Assignment
Moodle Assignment supports online submission, marking, feedback and similarity checking. It is suitable for most standard individual and group submission activities.

Link to Moodle Assignment miniguide

Moodle Coursework
Moodle Coursework supports more complex assessment and marking workflows, including multiple markers, double blind marking, moderation and structured allocation of submissions.

Link to Coursework Resource Centre

Assessment Tool Matrix

Compare Turnitin Assignment with the other online submissions tools at UCL.

Similarity Checking

Similarity checking remains available through both Moodle Assignment and Moodle Coursework. The standalone Similarity Checker Moodle course for students will also remain available.

Course: Turnitin Similarity Checker

Existing Turnitin assignments

Existing Turnitin assignments will remain accessible. Staff will continue to be able to use Turnitin Feedback Studio to mark and review submissions that have already been created.

Digital Education teams will work with Faculty Learning Technology Leads to identify any future Turnitin assignments that have not yet commenced or Assignments that have extended submission windows beyond October and support departments in moving these to Moodle Assignment or Moodle Coursework.

What departments need to do

Please do not plan any new assessments using the Turnitin Assignment for the new academic year. We are aware however, that the short notice of this change may have not allowed some of you to create your assessments for LSA. For these exceptional cases, where your department needs a Turnitin assignment created, please complete a Turnitin Request Form. Please note only assessments which are due within the LSA period before 7th September will be created.

Where a Turnitin assignment has already been created for a future assessment, your local Digital Education or Faculty Learning Technology team will contact you where changes are required. You can also contact the Digital Education Support Team via the MyServices Ticket service for advice.

Further support:

• Digital Education are running 15-minute online drop-in sessions are for staff who have questions about moving from Turnitin Assignment to Moodle Assignment or Coursework. Book a slot here: Turnitin Assignment Migration Support.

Future use of Turnitin

These arrangements will remain in place until UCL has completed its review of its current position, and a decision has been made on future access and use of Turnitin.

Further updates will be provided as the position develops.