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German Science Minister Stripped of Her PhD

Posted by Soulskill on from the politician-lied-film-at-11 dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a move likely to have major political implications, the University of Düsseldorf has revoked the doctoral degree of Germany's science and education minister, Annette Schavan. The committee investigating allegations of plagiarism came to the conclusion that she 'systematically and deliberately claimed as her own intellectual achievements which she had in fact not produced herself.' Schavan wants to appeal the decision in court and has not resigned from her post so far."

6 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. PhD's in Germany by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Having a PhD in germany is a status symbol more than anything. I expect this type of thing to happen more often since plagiarism is the easiest way to achieve this status symbol.

    1. Re:PhD's in Germany by grumpy_technologist · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's a sweeping and unfair generalization.

  2. Re:She wouldn't be the first by WoOS · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mr. Guttenberg resigned because his whole Ph.D. - done outside the university while he was already a politician - was a lousy Copy&Paste job including copying papers done by the research arm of the parliament for him. Especially also in places where he claimed original thought.

    Mrs. Schavan did the Ph.D. at the university before she started her career and seemingly ca. 15 years before she went into heavy politics. As far as I understand her Ph.D. was revoked because of incorrect citations (i.e. she named sources but not marked text as direct citation) in her literature section.

    The only commonality is that both lost their Ph.D..

  3. Re:should censure U of Dusseldorf too by WoOS · · Score: 3, Informative

    How does a university not know a dissertation is full of plagiarism? [...] So how could this happen?

    A) The Ph.D. thesis in question was submitted 1980. Long before computer checks and internet groups gathering to check Ph.D.s.
    B) It was not "full of plagiarism". You might want to fetch (non-marked) copy from the net and find the sentences in question before you accuse others of intent.

  4. Re:someone had to say it by antek9 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Oh my, that depends entirely on context. Dunno if it will make you happy, but do a search on 'Doktorspiele'.

    --
    A World in a Grain of Sand / Heaven in a Wild Flower,
    Infinity in the Palm of your Hand / And Eternity in an Hour.
  5. Re:Smear campaign or missing job qualification? by moronoxyd · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, people from her party claimed that the University didn't handle the case properly.
    Just as people from opposing parties said the opposite.

    This is just the usual politics.

    The decision to strip her of her title was made by a commission with 15 or 16 members, with 2 opposing and 1 abstention.

    So far, the German courts always upheld such decisions from Universities.

    Mrs. Schavan has the right to appeal the decision. Doesn't mean she will get the result she's looking for.