The Ministry of Education yesterday unveiled eight measures designed to ensure the quality of graduate theses following allegations of plagiarism and writing by proxies.
The measures include establishing a mechanism for investigating schools that fail to properly evaluate theses, or fail to hold faculty members involved in thesis-related infractions responsible, and adjusting enrollment at these institutions, either by enforcing lower enrollment or even zero enrollment.
The ministry would also publicly announce the ratio of theses not made public at each institution, as well as the ratio of oral defense evaluation committee members hired through “special circumstances,” as well as the school’s rationale behind hiring committee members through such circumstances.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The ministry introduced the measures following recent cases in which doubts surrounding a number of individuals’ theses brought the issue of academic ethics into question, Higher Education Director-General Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said.
The cases also raised doubts about the quality of education at various institutions, as well as these institutions’ mechanisms for controlling the quality of students’ theses, he said, adding that the ministry hopes to resolve the issue by supervising schools and implementing the eight measures.
The measures, which are to be implemented next year, aim to improve the quality of local degree programs.
If a student’s thesis is called into question, their adviser would also be held accountable, Chu said. Institutions that fail to hold offending students and their advisers accountable would have their enrollment cut or canceled for the year and would have their scholarship programs reduced, among other disciplinary actions, he said.
In some cases, all instructors at the school might be prohibited from supervising graduate students for the year, he added.
The ministry will also work with the National Central Library to develop a system for cross-checking theses, as well as a similar system for journal articles, to prevent plagiarism, he said, adding that the systems would be made available to instructors at all institutions.
Cases where students are suspected of employing proxy writers for their theses would be investigated by the ministry, he said.
The ministry earlier this year established an office to investigate the matter and had already identified 60 theses that were written by proxies, he said.
A number of theses touched upon classified information or patents, which are protected by law and cannot be made public, he said.
On the other hand, some institutions failed to make public theses that are 10 years old or more, which are not protected by law and should be made publicly available, he said, adding that the ministry would order these institutions to look into the matter.
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