The case in summary: Nord University has started an investigation into Ingvild Kjerkol’s master’s thesis following allegations of plagiarism. Kjerkol’s thesis has several similarities with another master’s thesis delivered at the same university, but the earlier thesis is not referred to in Kjerkol’s thesis. Some experts believe Kjerkol’s explanations do not measure up, while others believe it is sloppiness and that the copying will not affect the grade. Kjerkol admits that parts of the texts in her master’s thesis originate from a previous thesis, but maintains that the data in the thesis has been gathered through her own interviews. Associate Professor Thomas Laudal at the University of Stavanger believes that the copying is not suitable to affect the grade, although what Kjerkol has done should be considered plagiarism. Nord University has not given a time frame for when the investigation will be completed. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – Nord University has started work on assessing how this case should be handled, writes communications manager Andreas Førde in an e-mail to news at Nord University in a press release. On Saturday, a review of Ingvild Kjerkol’s master’s thesis showed several similarities with a previously published master’s thesis. The Minister of Health and Care took his master’s degree at Nord University in Levanger in 2021. The investigations show that Kjerkol’s master’s thesis has several similarities with another master’s thesis that was delivered at the same university. The assignment from 2019 is not referred to in Kjerkol’s assignment. On Monday, the management at Nord University investigates allegations of plagiarism. They have previously said that it is uncertain when they can draw conclusions. Several experts believe Kjerkol’s explanations do not measure up. Law professor Tarjei Bekkedal at the University of Oslo assessed Kjerkol’s master’s thesis on Saturday. On Sunday, he told news that the type of explanation Kjerkol gives is never accepted in “cheating cases” he has been involved in assessing. But some believe it is all just due to sloppiness, and that the copying in the assignment will not be reflected in the grade basis. Gets support The review of the health minister’s task comes in the wake of the case surrounding Sandra Borch (Sp). Borch, who was minister for higher education, resigned from his ministerial post on Friday evening after VG’s revelations about assignment cheating. Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) denied on Saturday having copied parts of another master’s thesis in the thesis she and a fellow student submitted in 2021. On Sunday, however, Kjerkol admitted that parts of the texts in her master’s thesis actually originate from an earlier thesis. Thomas Laudal is associate professor at the University of Stavanger. He has read Kjerkol’s entire thesis, on 121 pages. Laudal has worked as a researcher, examiner and supervisor for 12 years. He says to news that he thought the cheating accusations would mean the end for Kjerkol. – But after reading the thesis, I see how incredibly little there is of copying in general. In general, I believe that the copies are not problematic. They are obviously based on their own data, and they know their literature very well. Laudal believes the copying is not suitable to affect the grade, although what Kjerkol has done should be considered plagiarism. – Boring and sloppy Associate Professor Thomas Laudal at UiS. Photo: University of Stavanger – Literally speaking, it is a copy of another text. But when I read the entire thesis, which almost no researcher who has spoken out in the press has clearly done, it does not appear as central elements in the thesis at all. Laudal at UiS, says the thesis appears to be good and that it stands on its own two feet. – But it has these nonsense things with a few quotes. If she is to be punished, then it is because there has been a bit of sloppiness. But then I’m guessing that there are quite a few others who are sloppy just as much. The associate professor believes that the lesson for examiners should be that everyone must use plagiarism control, no matter what impressions you are left with after reading an assignment, and how little time you have. – Nord University will now go through the task. What should be the conclusion there? – If I had been part of a committee that was supposed to do this, I would have thought that this was boring and sloppy. If I had caught this I probably never would have reported it for plagiarism. Stems from a previous assignment Kjerkol justified similarities in text using the same method. At the same time, similarities have also emerged in the sections dealing with informants – those interviewed in the thesis. Kjerkol maintained that the informants were “known and unique for our task”. Facsimile: screenshot from Instagram – The data we base our thesis on is collected through interviews with our informants, analyzed by us, and the discussion and conclusions are ours. Our informants are department heads in the home service, said the Minister of Health to news. – We have found that the textual similarities in summarizing the interviewees’ views are connected to the fact that in an earlier version of the assignment we had a discussion section where we reviewed our findings and conclusions compared to findings in previous assignments. It was VG who first mentioned this. – In the final editing, we chose to remove this part from the assignment, but we now see that wording was left in two places – and then without reference to the previous assignment. It shouldn’t have happened, she says to news. – The data we base our thesis on has been collected through interviews with our informants, analyzed by us, and the discussion and conclusions are ours. Our informants are department managers in the home service. Nord University has announced a press release about the ongoing work on Kjerkol’s master’s thesis later on Monday.
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Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol’s master’s thesis is to be examined further – news Nordland
