– The question is not whether it is cheating, because it is. But the question is whether it also leads to the examination paper being annulled, says professor emeritus in jurisprudence, Jan Fridthjof Bernt. If the master’s thesis is cancelled, the title of lawyer also expires. On Friday evening, Borch resigned as minister of research and higher education, after admitting what she called “a big mistake” in her master’s thesis from 2014. Borch used texts from other students’ master’s theses in her own thesis, without referring to them as sources . Professor emeritus in jurisprudence, Jan Fridthjof Bernt. Photo: Åge Algerøy – There is a clear rule that if you use material from other people’s texts in a scientific work, then it is plagiarism, and thus also grounds for having a work annulled, says Bernt. He is also a former rector at the University of Bergen. In the mid-2000s, he led the committee that drew up the universities’ joint regulations on cheating, on which the current system is based. Lawyer Magnus Stray Vyrje represents the student who won in the Court of Appeal after being accused of self-plagiarism. The ministry, which Sandra Borch led until Friday, has appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court. Photo: King Desing – Very serious Lawyer Magnus Stray Vyrje believes that Sandra Borch’s former place of study must deal with this case. He represents the student who allegedly copied himself in a master’s thesis, and where Sandra Borch’s ministry has appealed the case to the Supreme Court. – What has now been uncovered is very serious, and it is something that the institution, the University of Tromsø, is also obliged to grasp and do something about, he says to news. According to Vyrje, it must now be clarified whether Sandra Borch’s use of sources means that she has cheated. – If she is given an academic penalty, she will be banned and given a grace period before she can hand in her master’s thesis again. And according to current regulations, that waiting period will be up to two semesters, says Vyrje. Sandra Borch has not responded to news’s inquiries on Saturday. Her former political adviser, Signe Bjotveit, writes in a text message that they currently have no comments beyond what Sandra said in her statement on Friday. Vice Chancellor Kathrine Tveiterås at UiT, Norway’s Arctic University, says all reports of cheating are investigated. Photo: Inge Jørn Johansen Found no major textual similarity According to vice-chancellor Kathrine Tveiterås at UiT, Norway’s Arctic University, they will always carry out further investigations when there are reports of cheating. – That applies in general, and is not specific to this case. – What does such a plagiarism case mean for Borch’s master’s degree? – I have no basis to comment on that. – But is it a current issue, can one look back in time on such matters? – I think I have to come back to that, if I am to be able to give an answer to that. According to a press release the university sent out on Saturday afternoon, Sandra Borch’s master’s thesis was tested for text similarity in 2014, using a national system. – With the database that was available in 2014, the system did not find a large degree of text similarity in Borch’s thesis, says the press release. Today, the collection of texts also includes student work at other educational institutions. It did not do so in 2014, according to UiT. – No system can, however, replace the responsibility the candidate has himself, the press release states. Johannes Ørn Thorsteinsson is the Juristforbundet’s leader of the student members. Photo: Juristforbundet/Sturlason Can be stricter Sandra Borch graduated as a lawyer in 2014. As minister for research and higher education, she has worked on a proposal for a new law on universities and colleges. – And there is a paradox there, that people are advocating that the reactions against cheating should be stricter than they are. The maximum period for the academic penalty will be increased, says lawyer Magnus Stray Vyrje. Cheating cases have no limitation period. New technology and a new agreement with Kopi Nord contribute to the fact that answers can now be checked against a much larger source material than previously available. – What can then easily happen is that corpses start to fall out of the cupboards, because you get an enormous control opportunity when it comes to old answers that are in the database. It can affect others, and it will be exciting to see where this ends, says Vyrje. – Appears to have double standards The Lawyers’ Association’s leader for the student members, Johannes Ørn Thorsteinsson, expects the university to take a second look at Borch’s master’s thesis. He believes that her thesis would have been rejected if it had been submitted today, based on the conditions that have been uncovered. Thorsteinsson points out that students who have been caught for self-plagiarism, that they have copied from assignments they have written themselves in the past, have been banned for up to two semesters. Last week it became clear that the Ministry of Knowledge will appeal such a case to the Supreme Court. – What Borch has done is much more serious than self-plagiarism. At the same time, the former minister himself has been a driving force to appeal the acquittal to the Supreme Court. Now it appears as a double standard, says Thorsteinsson.
ttn-69
Sandra Borch may lose her title as a lawyer – news Troms and Finnmark
