ISLAMABAD: The Subcommittee of Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training has sought details from Higher Education Commission (HEC) related to plagiarism in research journals by students and faculty members in the universities across Pakistan, asking the commission to expedite probe into allegations of plagiarism leveled by a student of RMIT University Melbourne against a top official of Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology (KFUEIT) Rahim Yar Khan.
The subpanel met on Tuesday under the convener-ship of Rana Maqbool Ahmad from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) to take up different issues concerning HEC and the universities. The subcommittee took up the issue of a student of RMIT University Melbourne who alleged that his thesis paper was stolen by the vice chancellor of KFUEIT. Briefing the subcommittee, the HEC officials said that a committee was set up to review the matter with its meeting scheduled on the coming January 3.
The HEC officials assured the subpanel that the inquiry committee would submit its report to the Senate subpanel within 15 days. “The allegation of plagiarism against a top academic is a very serious matter. The situation gets more serious keeping in view that these allegations are coming from a student of a foreign university. If these allegations are proved true, it would give a bad name to Pakistan. Plagiarism is intellectual dishonestly and HEC should deal strictly with whoever is involved in this crime,” remarked the convener subcommittee.
The subpanel members were of the view that HEC needed to take concrete measures to weed out plagiarism from Pakistan’s higher education system. The HEC officials briefed the Senate subcommittee on the methodology practiced in tracking plagiarism. The officials also informed the subpanel about penalties imposed to curb plagiarism.
“The severity of the penalty is directly proportional to the ratio of plagiarism in a research journal or thesis paper,” the officials informed the meeting.
Vice Chancellor University of Balochistan (UOB) Dr Shafiqur Rehman informed the subpanel that the anti-plagiarism policy was introduced in UOB in 2007. The university management has tracked three cases of plagiarism so far, he added.
The university management, he said, deals with the plagiarism cases involving students and faculty members but the cases of plagiarism in research journals fall under the domain of the HEC, he added, before the subpanel sought from the HEC the details of plagiarism in research journals by students and faculty members in the universities across the country.
Parliamentary Secretary for Education Wajiha Qamar, Senator Fawzia Arshad, VCs of different universities, senior HEC officials and other relevant government officials attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021