Hiring ghostwriters to finish research papers, theses or dissertations has become a widespread phenomenon at Taiwanese universities, legislators said. They yesterday urged the Ministry of Education to come up with solutions to what they say is a growing problem.
"The ghostwriting of theses or dissertations has caused great damage to the quality of higher education. The [ministry] should take action to stop such a trend," said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher (
During a press conference held to raise awareness about ghostwriting, Huang and three other DPP legislators, including Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬), Eva Hsieh (謝欣霓) and Winston Dang (陳重信), invited a graduate student and ministry officials to talk about the problem.
According to Hsieh, the ghostwriting of academic papers makes evident the lack of a thesis or dissertation review system at the nation's colleges and universities.
"Our institutes of higher learning should put more emphasis on oral exams and review of a student's academic performance," Hsieh said.
A Google.com search of college Bulletin Board System sites displayed at the press conference showed that information about thesis ghostwriting services or ghostwriter advertisements were easy to come by on the Internet.
"I have friends who ghostwrote theses or dissertations for other students or hire people to write their papers. [Ghostwriting] is becoming popular, and you can find everything about ghostwriting easily online," said the graduate student who wished to remain anonymous.
According to statistics from the ministry, the number of graduate schools has grown from 623 to 2,215 between 1994 and 2003. The quality of higher education, however, failed to keep pace with the growing number of school, the legislators said.
Responding to the criticism, Ma Hsiang-ping (
Since ghostwriting is considered cheating, students who hire someone to ghostwrite for them would be punished with expulsion, Ma said.
"In addition, we will ask colleges and universities to tighten their academic review system to prevent ghostwriting from taking place," Ma added.
According to the research done by the legislators, ghostwriting is popular among students in the liberal arts and business schools.
"Besides focusing more on oral examinations in the review process, replacing traditional dissertations with creative projects, such as performances or displays, could be an alternative to assessing a student's academic achievement," Cheng said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS