The Ministry of Education should take steps to ensure that university dissertation plagiarism is prevented, the head of an education group said on Saturday, one day after Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) had his master’s degree revoked by National Taiwan University (NTU).
Union of Private School Educators president Yu Jung-hui (尤榮輝) said the cases involving Cheng and former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) in August were among the largest scandals to affect NTU.
The two incidents are likely the tip of the iceberg, Yu said, given that few academics and faculty members would be willing to act as whistle-blowers, and school administrators often hope that public reports of plagiarism fade from attention so they can “sweep them under the rug.”
Photo: Taipei Times file photograph
Yu’s appeal came after Cheng confirmed on Friday that NTU had determined that he had plagiarized parts of his master’s thesis at the NTU Graduate Institute of National Development. The school began investigating the thesis after a complaint was filed with NTU against Cheng in October.
Lin abandoned his campaign for Taoyuan mayor ahead of the Nov. 26 elections when an investigation determined that he had plagiarized parts of his master’s thesis.
Lin and Cheng had the same thesis advisor — Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), who is now the National Security Bureau director-general. All three are members of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Yu said politicians who want to study for degrees should put in the required effort rather than resorting to influence peddling.
Thesis advisers should be gatekeepers of academic ethics and must not be compromised by possible favors from politicians, he said.
NTU should also be held accountable over seemingly lax standards for checking the originality of academic papers, Yu said.
Separately, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) on Saturday was asked at an event in Taipei if his ministry would hold NTU responsible for administrative oversight.
Pan said only that the ministry would remind universities to observe existing regulations.
Asked if all theses at the NTU Graduate Institute of National Development should be re-examined, Pan said the school is assessing whether such a move is necessary, and that the ministry would act based on the school’s reply.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS