The pallor of the student’s skin shone blue, as did the whites of his eyes. Here was yet another case of drug addiction amongst the undergraduates. I could also read confusion in his expression as he handed over his dissertation. He clearly had not expected ever to see me again.

Last year we had agreed to his request that I no longer supervise his honours project. The tutor originally assigned the second marker role took over as supervisor. What the student had not appreciated was that I would still be marking his dissertation in a simple supervisory team role switch-around. Nor did he realise that in admitting that his submission was “a load of rubbish” he’d made it so much easier for us to fail his work.