In my mind (I know nothing about the universities' threat models) the biggest concern is not looking up some reference online, but paying someone for a couple o

In my mind (I know nothing about the universities' threat models) the biggest concern is not looking up some reference online, but paying someone for a couple of hours to take the test for you. I agree, if you can look at available resources and competently perform the task that is likely not an issue in the field. However paying someone to tell you all the answers to a test is cost effective for an exam that takes a couple of hours but will not get you by in the field. The university doesn't want to be known to give out degrees to incompetent workers so they need to prevent this case.