UGC drafted strict regulations on plagiarism by teachers, students

• IndiaToday.in | New Delhi | April 3, 2018

Image for representation: Photo from Reuters

 

UGC has approved the UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Education Institutions) regulations 2018 in its meeting held on March 20.
This is a draft regulation on plagiarism that will be notified after approval by Human resource development (HRD) ministry.

Action to be taken if found guilty

• According to this regulation, students and teachers who plagiarise will lose their registrations
• The law in this draft regulation prescribes graded punishment for plagiarism
• Students may have to submit a revised research paper if found plagiarised in between 10 per cent and 40 per cent. The duration of re-submission will be 6 months
• If plagiarised in between 40 to 60 per cent, students will be deprived of submitting the revised paper for the duration of one year
• The student's registration for a programme will be cancelled if found plagiarised beyond 60 per cent
• Teachers in academics, if found having their research papers plagiarised in between 10 to 40 per cent, will be asked to withdraw the manuscript
• If found in between 40-60 per cent, they will be debarred to supervise Masters/Phd or Mphil students for two years and will be denied to single annual increment
• Over 60 per cent of plagiarism will lead the teachers' suspension and dismissal

"I am all for checking plagiarism which is indeed a problem in India within academia. We have very lax standards on this count and that is what seems to have prompted government to propose such a law. It would have been better if universities had strong internal mechanisms as in so many other countries."

- said Dinesh Singh, former vice-chancellor of Delhi University, as reported by HT.

 

The most popular case of plagiarism in India is that of BS Rajput, the VC of Kumaon University, a serial plagiarist, in which seven Stanford University professors wrote to about him to the then President APJ Abdul Kalam, as reported by HT.

India has been witness to several plagiarism charges against central university vice-chancellors and teachers in the past few years. Pondicherry University V-C Chandra Krishnamurthy quit in 2016 after a prolonged stand-off with the HRD ministry, following allegations that she plagiarized large parts of a book mentioned in her resume, as per HT reports.

According to UGC, all higher educational institutions will have to develop a policy on plagiarism and get it approved by relevant statutory bodies and display it on their websites. In September last year, UGC formed a committee and sought public feedback on a proposed plagiarism policy.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/ugc-drafted-strict-regulations-on-plagiarism-by-teachers-students-1203761-2018-04-03