The University of Sciences, Hue University has issued a Conclusion of the Council for Re-evaluation of the content of the doctoral thesis "History of Vietnam: The process of formation, development and transformation of royal festivals in Hue from 1802 to 1945" defended at Hue University on March 23, 2018, conducted by student Le Thi An Hoa.
This district was accused of plagiarism. And based on the Decision of the Director of Hue University on the regulation of academic integrity, Ms. Hoa's thesis was determined to violate plagiarism. Many verses and ideas overlap with other works without citing the source, with a total of 12 violating pages.
However, the conclusion of the Council for re-evaluating the content of this doctoral thesis shows the "missing question", when only assessing whether this thesis is successful or not, average or good, instead giving a specific assessment of the percentage of plagiarism in the thesis. As well as not assessing or concluding whether this thesis violates academic integrity or not.
It should be recalled that Ms. Le Thi An Hoa's doctoral thesis was accused of plagiarism and Hue University had previously determined that this thesis was plagiarized for 12 pages, not being accused of the quality of achievements or lack.
Therefore, the Re-evaluation Council established by Hue University only needs to determine to help Hue University and then the Ministry of Education and Training answer the whistleblower in particular, public opinion in general and Ms. Nguyen Thi An Hoa know how much percentage this thesis is plagiarized, whether it violates academic integrity or not, will the thesis be revoked due to this violation or not?
The whistleblower and public opinion do not need to know the quality of this doctoral thesis, whether it is achieved or not, or "if the plagiarism section is eliminated, I will rate the thesis at 60%" as the opinion of the Council member with the code KH05:
And Hue University, if there is still confusion due to lack of precedent in handling, can refer to the handling cases related to the plagiarism of domestic universities in recent times.
Or most recently, Ms. Kim Keon Hee - wife of former President of Korea Yoon Suk Yeol - has just had her master's degree revoked by the board of Sookmyung University of Women's Education for her thesis on art style research by Paul Klee, which contained a copy of content ranging from 48.1% to 54.9%.
And immediately after this decision, Kookmin University also revoked her doctorate, because according to the law of higher education, a master's degree is a necessary condition to be granted a doctorate. When a low degree is canceled, a higher degree automatically takes effect.
In the context of the whole society trying to restore trust in the quality of education after many cases of exam cheating, plagiarism, and degree trading, the "missed" and lack of transparency in handling a case with signs of serious academic violations only erodes the academic reputation of the training institution itself and the entire education system of the country.
That is something that Hue University and the Ministry of Education and Training cannot take lightly.
