It is noted that the charges of plagiarism will be checked within two months. Prior to the submission of an expert opinion on the results of information verification, the student will be able to voluntarily refuse to award him a higher education degree and relevant qualifications.
“Cancellation of the decision will be carried out by the institution of higher education, which has awarded the appropriate degree of higher education, or its successor,” – said the Ministry of Education.
According to the head of the department, Sergei Shkarlet, the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers “will contribute to the formation of responsibility of applicants for higher education in Ukraine and increase their competitiveness.”
In particular, the document will regulate:
- the procedure for canceling the decision on the award of a higher education degree and the assignment of the appropriate qualification in case of revealing the facts of violation by the applicant of higher education of academic virtue;
- the procedure for considering a case on violation of academic virtue by an applicant for higher education;
- the procedure for considering the issue of voluntary refusal of an applicant for higher education from a higher education degree and the assignment of an appropriate qualification;
- legal consequences of the cancellation of the decision and the procedure for its appeal.
In 2019, Ukraine adopted a law №392-IX “On amendments to some laws of Ukraine regarding the improvement of educational activities in the field of higher education.” It, among other things, reinforces the responsibility of students for failing to uphold academic virtue. Plagiarism, fabrication or falsification may cause the cancellation of the decision to obtain a higher education degree (the law states that the procedure for this procedure must be developed by the Cabinet).
On May 21, 2021, a group of people’s deputies registered a bill in the Verkhovna Rada №5532providing punishment in the form of fines for students for plagiarism in their abstracts and scientific papers. Now the bill is at the stage of familiarization in the relevant committee.
On June 24, the Committee on Education, Science and Innovation recommended the Verkhovna Rada to support the bill in the first reading №5461 on amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Education” in terms of establishing responsibility for the transfer of academic works in violation of the principles of academic virtue. It is proposed to recognize the transfer of an academic work to a third party for its further use as an author’s one as a violation of academic virtue.
The current chapter Ministry of Education Shkarlet (he runs the ministry since June 2020) was also involved in the plagiarism scandal in scientific papers. 40 Ukrainian scientists, including academicians of the National Academy of Sciences, opposed his appointment. The clerk himself denied the presence of incorrect borrowings in his works… He stated that “he is not obliged to refer to all articles on the Internet” and refers “only to the original source.” The National Agency of Ukraine for Quality Assurance in Higher Education acknowledged that in Shkarlet’s three works are plagiarized… The minister went to court and, according to the politician, won it.
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