German Research Minister Faces Plagiarism Allegations

German Research Minister

"BERLIN—German Education and Research Minister Annette Schavan is facing allegations that she plagiarized parts of her dissertation, published in 1980. A Web site, called schavanplag (in German) has listed 56 incidents in which the anonymous accuser says Schavan copied phrasing from improperly cited sources. "
--sciencemag.org

Here is the full article:
German Research Minister Faces Plagiarism Allegations - ScienceInsider

Though written 32 years ago, it is never too late to oust someone who plagiarized their work.

 

Wow! I assume if people go after the American Politicians...possible they are in the same boat. Germany is a smaller country, but has found lot of these kind of politicians. If Schavan's accusation is true, it would be embarrassment for Germany because she is the head of Education and Research of the country.

 

Mensch! Gibt es noch einen Deutschsprachiger hier? Super!

(Wow! There's another German speaker here? Wow!)

 

Klar doch... wir sind doch überall
(of course... we're everywhere (did not translate the smiley face - they're universal )

 

Hallo!

Freut mich, BlueMason! Sie sind Muttersprachliger, oder?

(Nice to meet you, BlueMason! Are you a native speaker?)

Mfg,

Messdiener

NS: Übrigens habe ich die Sprache an der Uni studiert und bin kein Muttersprachliger. Hoffentlich können Sie verstehen, was ich schreibe. Ich hoffe, dass ich nicht zu viele Fehler mache!

 

Ich bin ein alter Engländer, der jetzt in Canada wohnt und Deutsch studiert hat, als er in die weiterführende Schule ging. Ich habe Deutsch von 1957 bis 1960 gelernt.

Johann (der wirklich "John" heißt)

 

No, BlueMason is a BabelFish speaker. lol, Joking!

 

Give me some credit.. I use Google translate :silly:

 

In another German case last year, the Defence Minister lost his post due to plagiarizing most of his Ph.D. thesis.

German defence minister resigns in PhD plagiarism row | World news | The Guardian

When his plagiarism became public knowledge, he became known as the "Baron zu Googleberg." - Minister for cut-and-paste.:smile:

Johann

 

Sehr geehrter Herr Johann,

nach ~50 Jahren koennen Sie immer noch perfekt "sprechen". Ich bin krankhaft eifersüchtig.

Mfg,

Messdiener

 

Vielen Dank, Messdiener. Nur ein gutes Gedächtnis. Intelligenz? Ganz und gar nicht! :smile:

Many thanks (for the compliment), Messdiener. Just a good memory. Intelligence? None at all! :smile:

Johann (John)

 

Update:

Education minister loses doctorate for plagiarism - The Local

 

And apparently, since until recently you could get a doctorate in Germany without having a bachelors or masters, she is now a high school graduate.

 

Is there any reason she is still holding the position of Minister of Education and Research? Don't they force her to resign.

 

That's true, but Bachelor's and Master's did not exist in Germany until 2001! The 1980's equivalents where the Diplom degree in engineering and the sciences and the Magister degree the humanities, both first degrees at Master's level. The degree of the German education minister Anette Schavan was a so called "grundständige Promotion", also called "Direkt-Promotion", in philosophy. (The term Promotion is a false friend. It means "doctoral studies" in German.) This type of degree was always very rare at German universities, it only existed in the humanities, and it was phased out in 2006.

However, the fact that it is a first degree is misleading. The students in these degree programs had to complete the same courses like students in the normal magister degree programs prior to starting the actual doctoral phase of thier studies. With other words, a person who completed a "grundständige Promotion" always had the same level of education like a person with a Magister degree and a "normal" doctorate.

 

It did take a few days, but today education minister Annette Schavan has announced her resignation.

German Education Minister Schavan resigns amid plagiarism scandal | DW.DE | 09.02.2013

 

Here's the story from another source

BBC News - German minister Annette Schavan quits over 'plagiarism'

I am cynical enough to wonder if the delay was due to the fact that she was making a deal with the government over severance pay/benefits, etc.

 

We've had a number of threads dealing with plagiarism in one way or another so I picked this one in which to dump these articles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/us/politics/plagiarism-scandal-tests-a-senator-still-forming-a-rapport-with-montanans.html?ref=education&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/25/us/politics/plagiarism-raises-ethical-alarm-at-military-school.html?ref=education