Beating plagiarism

Plagiarism is a curse that afflicts academia in Pakistan from top to bottom, from the struggling undergraduate to those at the top of the academic ladder — who by the very nature of their positions ought to be beyond reproach. All too often where plagiarism is detected — and there are some very sophisticated methodologies and softwares that can sniff it out — it is quietly ignored or brushed under the carpet. Vested interests come into play, arms get twisted and look-the-other-way the preferred advice. Very occasionally tradition is ignored, and the recent decision by the Board of Governors (BoG) of Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) to terminate its pro-rector Haroon Rashid on the grounds that he plagiarised his PhD thesis is much to be welcomed. The decision also means that he is likely to be removed from his position as CEO of the National Testing Service (NTS) — and so he should be.

The BoG had given Mr Rashid the opportunity to explain his position which he had not availed himself of and its decision to dismiss him was unanimous. The PhD thesis that he submitted in 2006 was found to be 78 per cent plagiarised by the HEC last September, a cast-iron case. Questions also need to be asked of Preston University that awarded the PhD in the first place, specifically as to whether there was any process by which theses were checked for plagiarism in 2006, and if there were not, then are those processes in place now? If they are not then Preston University needs to have its authority to grant PhDs suspended until there is. Plagiarism is not only intellectual theft, it debases the academic Gold Standard at every level, devaluing the degrees awarded by our universities and sowing the seeds of doubt in foreign minds when it comes to the recruitment of Pakistani nationals who hold degrees from what are supposedly our finest institutions. Plagiarists must be shown no mercy, and Mr Rashid being hung out to dry will serve as a salutary warning to those similarly tempted. There must be no hiding place. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2016.

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