Romania Makes it Easier to Scrap Plagiarists' Degrees

Almost every month there is a new report in the Romanian media that another public dignitary is suspected of plagiarising her or his post-graduate dissertation.

Journalists present what they call evidence of plagiarism, the people accused deny any wrongdoing, while readers comment a lot.  And that's all.

Lack of clear legislation in this field has made it difficult to establish whether a PhD was plagiarised or not and, in the end, punish the guilty ones.

The government of Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos is now announcing plans to issue a decree that will allow universities to revoke scientific titles without waiting for the conclusion of a long investigation and a final decision from the National Ethics Council, CNATDCU.

"We hope to create a clear, easier mechanism to regulate any alleged disfunctionality from basic academic standards," the Education Minister, Adrian Curaj, said.

Professor Daniel David, from the Babes Bolyai University in Cluj, agrees, but adds that universities also need competent and reliable ethics committees, in order to take proper decisions on alleged plagiarism.

"Hopefully, the change in the law will make the universities become more responsible," David said.   

The change in law will cancel a controversial measure adopted in the last day of 2014 by the former government of Victor Ponta, which allowed people to relinquish their doctoral degrees through the Education Ministry without explanation.

The measure allowed Ponta himself to give up his controversial PhD, two-and-a-half years after plagiarism allegations about his doctorate first surfaced.

Many scientists said Ponta's motivation for changing the law was to protect himself from questions about his 2003...