National Taiwan University (NTU) president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) has been accused of plagiarizing a student's paper in a conference paper he coauthored with National Chi Nan University professor Chen Chien-liang (陳建良), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
The paper, entitled “An Empirical Study of the Effect of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement on Exports” was presented at a conference held by the Academia Sinica Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences and the NTU Department of Economics on May 6 last year and published in its conference documents.
“The paper contains many sentences and charts that are almost identical to those in a thesis titled ‘The Impact of ECFA Early Harvest on Taiwan’s Export to China: Analysis by Difference-In-Differences Model,’ written by Chen’s student in July 2016,” he said, adding that Chen was the student’s thesis adviser.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
While the student cited the working paper of “An Empirical Study of the Effect of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement on Exports” several times in her thesis, Chang Liao noted 15 uncited sentences and charts with a high degree of similarity to those in the published paper.
The paper does not cite the student’s thesis, but does have a short note thanking the student for providing a chart and a list.
As an example, a sentence in the student’s thesis reads: “The government should use the empirical evidence as the basis for communicating with different sectors and analyze the data to help with future planning of industry policies,” which is almost identical to the sentence in the published paper: “The government should use the empirical evidence as the basis for communicating with different sectors and use the data as the basis for planning future trade and industry policies,” Chang Liao said.
The two papers use the same methodology, theme and conclusion, he added.
“It appears that Kuan and Chen might have written their paper based on the master’s student’s thesis,” he said. “If the student had plagiarized their paper, why would Chen allow her to graduate?”
Kuan owes the public an explanation and NTU, Academia Sinica and the Ministry of Education should investigate the matter, he said.
According to a Chinese-language United Daily News report, Chen said that the student cited his working paper in her thesis and that Chang got it “the wrong way round.”
Chen is in Myanmar on a business trip and is to return to Taiwan on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, several academics and politicians expressed concerns over a possible conflict of interest in the NTU president election after several media outlets reported that Kuan was an independent director of Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and that company vice chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) was a member of the university’s presidential election committee.
NTU said the election complied with the university’s regulations, but the ministry, which is in the process of reviewing Kuan’s appointment, has requested NTU clarify issues regarding the alleged conflict of interest and plagiarism.
As there are very few laws and regulations governing universities, it is difficult to correct their mistakes, DPP Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) said, adding that the ministry should address the issue.
To prevent similar controversies, the government must have regulations and universities must be disciplined and have better election regulations, she added.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS