The doctoral thesis of graduate student Le Thi An Hoa was completed and submitted for deposit in 2018 - Photo archive
Recently, after announcing the conclusion of the case of the doctoral thesis of the head of the scientific research department of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center being accused of plagiarism, Mr. Le Anh Phuong - director of Hue University - said:
“We do not have the right to appraise plagiarized doctoral theses. Hue University also does not have the right to handle the supervisor and the doctoral thesis appraisal council in this case, because this is the authority of the Ministry of Education and Training.”
The Ministry of Education and Training reserves the right to establish a thesis appraisal council.
The doctoral thesis was accused of plagiarism by author Le Thi An Hoa - head of scientific research department of Hue Monuments Conservation Center.
Ms. Hoa is a 2013 PhD student majoring in history at the University of Sciences (Hue University). Ms. Hoa successfully defended her doctoral thesis in 2018 and was awarded a doctorate degree later.
In 2009, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 10/2009/TT-BGDĐT (Regulations on doctoral training). In 2012, the Ministry continued to issue Circular 05/2012/TT-BGDĐT (Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulations on doctoral training issued together with Circular 10/2009).
In 2017, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 08/2017/TT-BGDĐT (Regulations on admission and training for doctoral degrees) replacing Circular 10/2009.
Currently, schools apply the Regulations on admission and training for doctoral degrees according to Circular 18/2021/TT-BGDDT issued by the Ministry of Education and Training on August 15, 2021, replacing Circular 08/2017.
Because Ms. Hoa is a PhD student in 2013, Circular 10/2009 and Circular 05/2012 apply.
Accordingly, the appraisal of training process records, thesis content and quality is carried out in the following cases: random appraisal: randomly drawing from the number of defended thesis records according to the report of the training institution for appraisal; when there are complaints and denunciations about training process records, thesis content and quality.
In case there is a complaint or denunciation about the content or quality of the thesis or the thesis has at least 2 disapproving appraisal opinions, the Ministry of Education and Training shall issue a decision to establish a thesis appraisal council and authorize the head of the training institution with the doctoral student to organize a thesis appraisal council meeting under the supervision of a representative of the ministry.
Associate Professor Dr. Trinh Quoc Trung - Head of the Postgraduate Training Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Law - commented: "Because the doctoral student defended his thesis in 2018 and was awarded a degree, at this time, the response of the Hue University leadership is appropriate. The authority to establish a thesis appraisal council belongs to the Ministry of Education and Training (Clause 9, Article 40) Circular 05/2012".
The basis for determining whether a doctoral thesis is plagiarized is appropriate.
After receiving the accusation, the director of Hue University directed the establishment of a verification team related to two issues: plagiarism and misuse of historical data in Ms. Hoa's doctoral thesis.
Through verification, Hue University issued a conclusion, citing a series of grounds (Law on Denunciation; decrees and circulars related to regulations on handling complaints and denunciations; regulations on academic integrity of Hue University in 2023...).
According to the conclusion: The content of the accusation that the doctoral thesis is plagiarized is correct. The plagiarism error is determined to be 12 pages (based on the provisions of Clause 6, Article 3 of Decision No. 1860/QD-DHH dated November 30, 2023 of the Director of Hue University regulating academic integrity in master's and doctoral training at Hue University).
In addition, the thesis has historical errors.
Commenting on the above conclusion, Mr. Trinh Quoc Trung said: "The 2023 Academic Integrity Regulations of Hue University state 'In case of complaints/denunciations about violations of academic integrity regarding published academic products of former students at member training units'.
This regulation applies retroactively to publications within Hue University.
Therefore, it is appropriate to base on this regulation to verify the content of the thesis. However, in this case, Hue University has only checked for plagiarism, not actually evaluated the thesis. They have forwarded the results of the verification of the accusation to the Ministry of Education and Training and recommended that the Minister establish a thesis content evaluation council to resolve the matter under the authority of the Ministry, which is in accordance with the regulations."
Who has the authority to revoke a doctorate degree?
However, the above conclusion is based on Circular 08/2017 (Regulations on doctoral training in 2017). According to experts, this is incorrect because Ms. Hoa's case does not apply to this regulation.
Regarding the request of the director of Hue University for the author of the thesis to “edit the contents pointed out in the conclusion of the denunciation and submit a copy according to current regulations”, the head of the postgraduate training department of a school under Ho Chi Minh City National University commented: “In principle, this is not allowed because the thesis has been published and submitted. Only after the conclusion of the ministry can that idea be made, if permitted”.
According to Circular 05/2012, for theses that meet the requirements during evaluation but have opinions from independent evaluators or evaluation councils requiring revisions, the school or institute-level thesis evaluation council, together with the supervisor and graduate student, will review and decide on points that need to be supplemented and revised.
After the doctoral student completes the corrections, the chairman of the school-level thesis evaluation council checks and confirms in detail the supplemented and edited contents, and reports to the head of the training institution to grant the doctoral degree to the doctoral student according to the prescribed requirements.
Regarding the director of Hue University's statement that "only the Ministry of Education and Training has the right to revoke plagiarized doctoral theses", the regulations stipulate that for theses that do not meet the assessment requirements, in cases where a doctoral degree has been granted, it will be considered and handled according to current laws for the granted degree.
"Thus, if the appraisal council concludes that the thesis is not qualified, the Ministry of Education and Training will request the training institution that granted the doctoral degree to revoke the degree granted to the student," an expert added.
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