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Plagiarism in research a threat to excellence Australia to protect Indian students affected by college closures Campus
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Plagiarism in research a threat to excellence India awards only 5,000 Ph.D degrees in science in a year, whereas there is need for producing more than 25,000 degrees. On the other hand, China is producing more than 15,000 Ph.D degree holders in a year. India has 119 researchers per million of the population, compared to 1,564 in China, 2,706 in the UK, 4,605 in the US and 6,807 in Iceland. Even in terms of the number of researchers per 1,000 people employed, India, with 24 researchers, ranks below China (115), Japan (131), the European Union (231) and the US (324). The declining number of researchers leads to low output of research. We as a developing nation need more volume and of higher quality of research. As volume of the research output is coming down, research quality is also compromised. Cases of ethical lapses or plagiarism emanating from institutions of scientific research are increasingly being reported. According to the United States Code of Federal Regulations, “Plagiarism means the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit.” The other common practice of research misconduct is to plagiarise one’s own work through reuse of identical or near-identical portions of manuscripts without acknowledgement or citation. Simultaneous or subsequent submission of similar manuscripts with only minor differences and without citation between the manuscripts is unfortunately a rather common practice among authors hoping to acquire multiple publications from a research project. The basic problem of plagiarism in research lies in the personal integrity of the researcher involved, but there are other factors too that prompt the researcher for resorting to such means. In our universities and other institutes of higher learning, a degree of Ph.D and the publication of research papers have been linked to the career in teaching and research, starting from recruitment to the job, to award of an increment and to various promotions in the career. Therefore, academics try and adopt easy, unethical practices in putting together a research piece. Plagiarism also gives an indication to the systemic failure in higher education, as many institutions in the private sector are plunging into research but without any improvements in academic and research infrastructure. India does not have a statutory body to deal with scientific misconduct in academia like the Office of Research Integrity in the US. In institutions of higher learning in the US, plagiarism is considered a serious breach of research ethics and if committed intentionally, is considered research misconduct. Plagiarism may result in serious sanctions, including public disclosure, loss of research funding, loss of professional stature and termination of employment. China has also strengthened its regulatory system to counter the rampant problems of plagiarism and is ready with a new law to clamp down on academic cheating at its universities. Some publishing houses have also taken corrective measures to check this menace. For example, Elsevier, a trusted publisher of science and health information, has created a website, Ethics in Research and Publication, and uses resources such as the plagiarism detection service CrossCheck powered by iThenticate to protect the integrity of literature being published. In India, in most of the cases, a public/media outcry leads to an investigation either by institutional authorities or by independent enquiry committees. Authors responsible for plagiarism have been given some severe punishments, including suspension, removal and demotion. However, cases of plagiarism are often dealt in ad-hoc fashion, with different routes being followed in different cases and no fixed route has been prescribed to monitor such activities. In the last couple of years, Panjab University, Chandigarh, University of Pune and University of Madras, State Medical University of Tamil Nadu have taken some tough action against such incidents with future remedial measures to check such practices. In an effort to control increasing cases of plagiarism and low quality research, the All-India Council for Technical Education is going to launch Project Factory, an online repository aimed at capturing abstracts of all postgraduate projects. Also, all the universities should come forward to be part of the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) national repository for Indian Electronic Theses and Dissertations. A committee set up by the UGC has suggested that every university should upload research abstracts on its website. But it is impossible for an individual to look through 500-plus university websites. There should be one all-India portal for this purpose. Today softwares are available in the market which can help to deter the people from indulging in malpractices. Turnitin is one such software, which is successfully used in global universities. The software can go through huge databases to identify plagiarised portions of a work. But such softwares are available in English only, and we need to create databases for the research done in other languages in our country. In this context, there is need to create awareness and come up with a set of clear guidelines to maintain academic integrity. This serious issue needs a long-term solution, and the establishment of an independent ethics body can be a lasting solution. The writer is Senior Scientist at Dr Y. S.
Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni (Solan) |
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Australia to protect Indian students affected by college closures
AUSTRALIA’s High Commissioner to India, Peter Varghese, has said that Indian students affected by the foreshadowed closure of three colleges in Australia will be covered by a legislated safety net. “The Australian Government has in place a comprehensive suite of protection mechanisms to safeguard the interests of overseas students under the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000,” said Varghese. “If these education providers do close and do not meet their obligations to students, international students will be able to access the Australian Government’s Tuition Protection Scheme (TPS). The TPS will seek to place affected students in an alternative course or refund any unspent pre-paid tuition fees to the students,” he said. “Australia is committed to maintaining high education standards, and undertaking rigorous auditing of education providers”, added Varghese. Varghese was commenting on the move by Australia’s vocational education regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), to shut down two non-compliant vocational education and training colleges in Victoria and one in New South Wales. Depending on the outcome of any appeals, the decisions take effect from October 30 and apply to all courses offered by the Ashmark Group Pty Ltd and G Plus G Global Trading Pty Ltd. Both colleges have campuses in Melbourne, Victoria. ASQA also served notice last month on the Ivy Group in New South Wales. The decisions follow comprehensive compliance assessments, including multiple site visits by ASQA officers. The ASQA audits concluded that the colleges were non-compliant with the standards that providers in Australia are required to meet in the delivery of training to domestic and international students. “The decision to reject a training organisation’s registration is not one we take lightly, but the interests of students and the integrity of training standards across the VET sector have to be upheld,” said ASQA Chief Commissioner Chris Robinson. There are over 400 Indian students enrolled at the Ashmark Group college, over 100 Indian students enrolled at G Plus G Global and a further 30 Indian students enrolled at the Ivy Group. “The institutions have the right to have ASQA’s decision reviewed which may delay or change the decision,” added Robinson. Details can be found on https://tps.gov.au/Home/NotLoggedIn, http://www.asqa.gov.au/ media-and-publications/media-releases.html. — TNS |
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Campus
Notes A national seminar on "Emerging Dimensions of Law in 21st Century" was organised at Guru Nanak Bhawan Auditorium of the university recently. The seminar was organised by the Law Department in association with the UGC. Dr Rajinderjit Kaur Pawar, Dean, Academic Affairs, presided over the inaugural session of the seminar, while Prof. M.P. Singh, Chairperson, Delhi Judicial Academy, New Delhi, was the chief guest. Professsor Kulwant Singh, Head and Dean, Jammu University, Jammu, delivered the keynote address. He said the evolution and change of law must be a continuous process aiming to bring social justice to the deprived people. "An unjust past must yield place to a just future. Law is not a static entity but a dynamic organism. For a better understanding of law and to make it more conducive to the needs of society, an inter-disciplinary approach should be adopted in our curricula, and also there is need to familiarise students with the law," Prof. Kulwant said. Professor M.P Singh in his presidential remarks touched upon different dimensions of law. "The Constitution is a living document and no one is allowed to damage its spirit and values," he said. Environment impact assessment A special lecture on “Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notifications and its Implications on Development Projects” was organised by Guru Ramdas School at the Conference Hall of the university recently. Rahul Singh, Executive Director, Green C India Consulting Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, and an alumnus of the department, delivered this lecture and elaborated on the main theme of environment impact assessment. He threw light on the environment legislation in the country and gave a demonstration of live projects handled by his company. The main message from the deliberation was that environment impart assessments are a sine qua non in effective environment management and can go a long way in reducing the negative environmental impact on growth and development. Earlier, Prof. Balvinder Singh, Head of the Department, welcomed the speaker, faculty and students. Prof S.S. Behal, Dean, Faculty of Planning and Architecture, presented the vote of thanks. Sugar research award Varun Aggarwal, a final year student of B.Tech (Sugar and Alcohol Technology) of Guru Nanak Dev University, won the “Outstanding Student Research Paper of the Year” award at the 71st Annual Convention of the Sugar Technologists Association of India, New Delhi. The convention was held at the Novotel Hyderabad International Convention Centre recently. Zonal youth fest Shanti Devi Arya Mahila College, Dina Nagar, lifted the Championship Trophy of 'A' Division, while Sikh National College, Qadian, won the Championship Trophy of 'B' Division at the Zonal Youth Festival of 'B' Zone of Guru Nanak Dev University that concluded at the Dashmesh Auditorium here recently. More than 600 students-artists from affiliated colleges of the university from Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts participated in the 24 events. In 'A' Division, RR Bawa DAV College for Girls, Batala, remained runners-up, while SRPA AB College, Pathankot, finished third. In 'B' Division, Guru Arjun Dev Khalsa College, Chohla Sahib, was the runners-up. Dr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Professor, in charge (F&D), while addressing the student-artists said along with studies, cultural activities were also essential for students. He also exhorted students to work hard to achieve success. |
Seminar on emerging dimensions of law
TODAY India’s research output is declining both in terms of volume and quality. Its research output was just 3.5 percent of global research output in 2010. In our country, the allocation for research is only about $8 million in comparison to about $250 billion in the US and $60 billion in China. Consequently, the students are loosing interest in pursuing research for the higher degrees as enrollment for Ph.D or M.Phil degrees has tumbled down from 0.44 in 2009 to 0.34 per cent.