The thesis plagiarism accusations surrounding Kaohsiung City Councilor Jane Lee (李眉蓁), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate in the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election, has piqued the public’s curiosity, and the number of thesis searches has surged sharply. Some even joke that Lee should be credited for spurring a wave of academic discussion.
The controversy has even extended to the “ghostwriting market.” Hiring someone to write a thesis is like hiring someone to take the Joint College Entrance Examination: Such misconduct must be condemned. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Education has long dealt with the problem passively.
In 2013, the legislature amended the Degree Conferral Act (學位授予法) to crack down on ghostwriting, by sharply increasing the fines for academic ghostwriting and advertising academic ghostwriting services.
However, as Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) has shown, the ministry has only caught three ghostwriters in the seven years since — one in the first year and two this year.
According to Ministry of the Interior data, more than 3 million Taiwanese have a university degree, and more than 1.3 million have a master’s degree or higher. Among those under the age of 64, 45 percent are junior college or university graduates, which is much higher than in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member states, where the average is 33 percent.
With the large number of university graduates, it would be great if the nation could shine on the international stage. Surprisingly, in UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds’ 2021 QS World University Rankings, National Taiwan University is the only Taiwanese school, ranking 66th among the world’s top 100 universities, lagging behind China’s Tsinghua University, Peking University and Fudan University at No. 15, 23 and 34 respectively.
A university should be a place where students seek knowledge, truth and pleasure, but in Taiwan, this is wishful thinking. Academics and students are seeking higher positions, fame and fortune, and their academic papers and diplomas are nothing but tools to reach those goals.
Without a master’s degree or higher, it is difficult to find a good job after graduation, and those with a higher degree often get promoted faster than those without.
As a result, many people work hard to obtain at least a master’s degree, and the many university professors who serve concurrently as thesis or dissertation advisers happily profit from providing guidance to more graduate students.
Lee’s thesis adviser, for example, reportedly guides an average of 10 graduate students per year, a figure almost beyond comprehension. I am exhausted from guiding three graduate students yearly and would barely be able to concentrate on teaching if I were guiding 10.
Universities can now conduct plagiarism checks through originality comparison systems, but as the saying goes: “When virtue rises one foot, evil rises 10.” Services that help students avoid originality checks are already available, and rewriters can easily dodge plagiarism detection by using synonyms or inverted sentences in a paper.
As people see education and diplomas as a means to an end, many stop at nothing to get a higher degree. Given this situation, it would be difficult to root out academic plagiarism. No wonder some say that closing half of all Taiwan’s universities would only solve half the problems with Taiwan’s higher education.
Lu Ching-fu is a professor in Fu Jen Catholic University’s applied arts department.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing