Fraud to be Failed?

Trond Enger, the leader of the Norwegian Students\' Union, is concerned that the ongoing rise in plagiarism cases at the universities may continue, and that the universities may start failing students rather than accuse them of plagiarism rather than risk incurring financial losses. Students accused of plagiarism, or cheating, are entitled to have their case dealt with by the University\'s central board for complaints. As students are entitled to legal aid this connection, each case is likely to cost the University NOK 20,000 to 30,000. Students who fail have no such rights, making it cheaper to fail students than to – rightly – accuse them of plagiarism.

Toril Johansson, director of teaching at the University of Oslo, points out that it is up to the various institutes to determine whether each individual case is one of fraud or flunk. The institutes are not affected by any possible costs incurred by decisions to accuse students of plagiarism, as these funds are allocated by the University administration.

Thirteen academic committees, representing a range of disciplines, as well as the Norwegian Union of Research Workers, have signed a proclamation against the use of the Gaussian distribution at postgraduate level. The Student Parliament, however, has failed to back the protest.