Intellectual dishonesty

MAKERERE has expressed alarm at the growing menace of plagiarism at the university. The director of the postgraduate school says many graduate students are presenting dissertations that are duplicated. This is intellectual dishonesty. Dissertations are supposed to be the crowning point of years of academic endeavour; they should, ideally, add to efforts to solve problems that society faces. As it were, many graduates have taken liberties with the widely accepted practice of borrowing ideas, and have gone on to copy research that has been done by others. The postgraduate school is considering the implementation of a system in which students would receive their postgraduate degrees only after their research has been published in a recognised journal. This is an extreme position. While it would sift out plagiarised works, the sheer volume of research papers coming out of Makerere would be hard to publish. Consolidating the viva system should help. Vivas require students to defend their research before a panel, where they can be cross-examined. The panel of experienced academics should be able to detect any anomalies. Secondly, complete lists of research done in the university should be readily available. The lists, pointing out who did research in which topic and when, could go up in the main library and in the respective faculty libraries. If these were made mandatory reference points, there would then be no excuse for producing the same work. Faculties should also make the most of research supervisors. These are senior academics that are attached to individual students with the express mission of monitoring their progress. Supervisors should be able to detect plagiarism. Obviously Makerere is now stretched, given the fast rising number of students enrolling without a commensurate increase in the academic staff. Solving the disequilibrium will be helpful. Ends.