SEOUL, KOREA - The UK’s Cardiff University and South Africa’s Potchefstroom University (now the North-West University) are at risk of having their reputations tarnished.
South Korea-based Christian newspaper “IGoodNews” (http://www.igoodnews.net) reported on June 23 that Potchefstroom University is not the only university to have a post-doctorate thesis editing system in place. Cardiff University has permitted the re-publication of plagiarized PhD theses after correcting the errors found in them.
South Korean academics have cast a dubious eye on the news report. It is natural to alter a PhD thesis before a doctorate is awarded. However, the practice of giving the nod to making alternations of a PhD-winning thesis, the writer of which is found to have undoubtedly committed plagiarism, has raised many eyebrows in South Korea.
Back in 1998, Pastor John Jung-Hyun Oh at SaRang Community Church, located in Seoul, obtained a doctorate from South Africa’s Potchefstroom University. When Pastor Jung-Hyun Oh was suspected of committing plagiarism in his doctoral thesis last year, Potchefstroom University said, “While it is clear to the Senate that plagiarism indeed occurs throughout the thesis, the Senate decided not to withdraw the thesis and the 1998 award of the PhD degree to Dr Oh.”
Potchefstroom University explained, “The reasoning behind this decision is that the thesis still constitutes an original and significant contribution to the discipline, even if all of the sections where plagiarism was identified are removed. These corrections have been stipulated by the Senate and provided to Dr Oh. This must be completed to the satisfaction of the Faculty and Dr Oh must submit corrected copies of the thesis to the Faculty. He will furthermore be required to address letters of apology to the surviving authors whose works have been plagiarized.”
Professor Taechoong Chung of Kyung Hee University said, “The practice of allowing disgraced doctorate holders, obviously found guilty of plagiarism, to fix their plagiarized doctoral dissertations and retain their PhDs is no different from a professor allowing students to correct wrong answers in their already-submitted answer sheets and then altering the students’ academic scores accordingly. The fact that a university exists that still has such a ludicrous system in place is itself alarming."
