In the summer of 2021, the current Minister of Health and Care Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) delivered a master’s thesis on the study program “Master in knowledge management”. news has uploaded the assignment to the program CopyLeaks, which detects text that is similar in other documents. The investigations show that Kjerkol’s master’s thesis has several similarities with another master’s thesis that was submitted at the same university in 2019. The thesis from 2019 is not referred to in Kjerkol’s thesis. The thesis was written at Nord University together with a fellow student. VG reported the case first. The Minister of Health denies having copied other people’s texts. – The topic of our master’s thesis, our discussion, findings and conclusions, is about something other than the master’s theses it refers to. This is therefore not a copy of text presented as own findings and conclusions. However, there may be wording in the thesis that should have had clearer references. We see that we could do better in our response, writes Kjerkol in an e-mail to VG. Throughout Saturday, news has been trying to get a comment from the Minister of Health. After VG published its case, the Ministry of Health and Social Care writes in an e-mail to news that Kjerkol declines to be interviewed and refers to the comments she has given to VG. – VG refers to descriptions of method and research literature on method in our master’s thesis that coincide with descriptions in other assignments. It is not surprising that all the time the assignments are based on the same theories and methods. We have not been able to review everything within the deadline set by VG, but most of the examples are about method descriptions that sound the same, says the email to news. More to be gained in terms of grading news has sent the textual similarities to law professor Tarjei Bekkedal at the University of Oslo. Compared to Borch’s paper, he believes that Kjerkol’s paper has copied text that is academically more important for grading. – Borch could certainly have written the passages in her thesis herself, she just didn’t have the time or energy. But in Kjerkol’s assignment there are passages that are not so easy to write yourself, and which, especially in terms of character, you earn more by copying, he says. Law professor Tarjei Bekkedal at the University of Oslo. Photo: Eva Dobos In Kjerkol’s assignment, it concerns a transcript from several different sources without quotation marks or references, he explains. The professor believes that it is obviously a copy, because both typographical errors and internal references have been copied. However, the law professor wishes to emphasize that no conclusions should be drawn in the matter before the students have explained themselves. The textual similarities in Kjerkol’s assignment are clearly above the threshold for calling the students in for a conversation, he believes. – If this conversation does not disprove that suspicion, then it will be considered cheating. But I have had many such interviews, and it happens that you moderate your opinion when you hear the explanations, he says. No systematic review On Saturday afternoon, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a press conference in connection with Sandra Borch (Sp) choosing to resign as Minister of Research and Higher Education on Friday evening. She resigned after revelations about plagiarism in her master’s thesis, and Støre said her mistake is incompatible with being a minister. However, Støre did not want to take the initiative for a systematic review of the ministers’ tasks, but said he expects to be notified if there are matters he should know about. – I have to assume that what is stated in CVs and assignments corresponds to reality. We must base ourselves on trust and that what they say they have delivered and the grades they have received are true, said Støre. news has tried to contact Kjerkol’s fellow student, without getting a reply.
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More text similarities found in Minister of Health Kjerkol’s master’s thesis – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
