Probing alleged cases of plagiarism: HEC expresses dismay at delay by universities

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has come hard on nine different public sector universities, including the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan, and Punjab University (PU), for delay in deciding alleged cases of plagiarism.
An official of BZU who attended the 21st meeting of the commission said here on Tuesday that HEC expressed extreme dismay over delay by universities in investigating the alleged cases of plagiarism according to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) developed by the Commission.
The meeting warned the universities of strict action, maintaining no new project for the said universities would be developed while funds would also be withheld. The meeting was informed that many reminders were sent on various occasions to these universities, but to no avail. They further said most of the cases had been pending for around two years, making the issue quite serious. They said the cases of plagiarism allegations reported to the HEC on different occasions were forwarded to the universities concerned for investigation in the light of HEC Plagiarism Policy.
"However, it has now been realised that the universities, in most of the cases, are not deciding the cases according to HEC's SOPs, delaying the cases unnecessarily", they added. An official from the HEC said, in most of the cases, the universities were reluctant to constitute Plagiarism Standing Committee as required by the Commission, leading to the delay in the investigation.
Giving details of the alleged cases of plagiarism and delay on part of universities, he said two different cases were forwarded to the Punjab University, separately on July 17, 2008, and August 1, 2008, besides five reminders to decide the cases, but to no avail.
The official further said, in the first case involving Abdullah Yasir and co-authors, the PU had not processed the case through Plagiarism Standing Committee as per policy and conveyed that the authors had not committed plagiarism. "The case was got evaluated by the HEC from a neutral person who was of the view that plagiarism was committed", he said, adding that the PU was reluctant to review the decision even after more than one year, despite several reminders.
The official said the second case of plagiarism allegations was against Nusrat Yasmeen and Maria Riaz, both PhD Scholars, of the PU Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology. In its initial inquiry report dated October 29, 2008, the PU Registrar informed that the research topics of both the scholars had been changed. He said the names of the accused were even placed on HEC list of plagiarism cases under investigation but no further response had been received from the PU so far.
Similarly, he said, the delay in deciding the alleged cases of plagiarism was witnessed at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology (MUET) Jamshoro, Quaid-e-Awan University of Engineering & Technology (QUEST) Nawabshah, Bolan Medical College (BMC) Quetta, Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan, University of Karachi, Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad, University of Peshawar and International Islamic University (IIU) Islamabad.
The meeting also expressed serious concerns regarding the violation of HEC's PhD award criteria by some institutions. It was decided that the Commission would not recognise the PhD degrees, which did not fulfil the HEC quality criteria and were awarded after July 1, 2009.
The Commission issued directions to curtail the development funding to the institutions violating the quality criteria and take up with the chancellors of the universities to ensure that quality of higher education imparted in Pakistan was not be compromised, and met international standards.
As per the criteria, it is necessary for the PhD dissertation to be approved by at least two eminent international experts in the relevant area and all scholars must publish a journal paper in any HEC recognised journal prior to submission of PhD thesis.
In the disciplines of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and five other disciplines in which International GRE examination is held, it is also necessary that PhD scholar has cleared the international examination prior to submission of thesis and award of degree. When contacted, HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail H Naqvi said the universities had been warned of stern action in case of further delay, adding if the universities did not constitute Plagiarism Standing Committee, the HEC Plagiarism Committee might take final decision.