For many years, Slovakia was a gateway for Germans and Austrians who wanted to get a doctorate.

The verb "acquire" can be understood here with two meanings.

Because resourceful "brokers" sensed a deal.

The Berlin law professor Gerhard Dannemann reported last year to the FAZ that Slovakia had attracted German-language dissertations that were created with little effort and high fees.

Not surprisingly, the science platform VroniPlag Wiki has so far documented ten works from Slovakia containing plagiarism.

Initially, it was not possible to retrospectively revoke such doctoral degrees based on fraud.

In 2021, higher education law changed, and sanctions could be imposed up to five years after obtaining a degree.

Recently, the Slovak Higher Education Act was amended again (Act No. 137/2022 Coll).

It now defines in paragraph 62 b the offense of "academic fraud".

This is committed by anyone who submits a work that is not entirely the result of their own work.

"The facts include passing off a purchased service from a stranger as your own text and plagiarizing it," explains Jan Sommerfeld.

He is a research associate for Czech and Slovak law at the Institute for Eastern European Law in Regensburg and is also admitted to the bar in Germany and the Czech Republic.

Diploma thesis for 600 euros

Academic fraud can result in the loss of an academic degree.

"There is no longer a five-year limitation period for this legal consequence," explains Sommerfeld.

In addition: “Companies and people who complete or have completed theses in whole or in part, advertise or mediate such a service commit an administrative offense or an administrative offence.” A fine of between 10,000 euros and 50,000 euros can be imposed for this.

In the event of a repeat offense, the fine is doubled.

"Further disciplinary measures are threatened for academic staff who participate in academic fraud," reports Sommerfeld.

German or Austrian intermediaries, such as doctoral advisors, also fall under the regulation.

The Slovakian foundation "Let's stop corruption" (Nadácia Zastavme korupciu) assumes in a study that at least 15 percent of all theses are purchased.

22 companies were found to arrange and produce such work: “Many of them have no administrative data available.

They are either based abroad or it is not clear who runs their website.

The providers presented their services as “document preparation”.

A dissertation of 60 pages is occasionally offered for as little as 600 euros.

The new law aims to stop this practice.

A few years ago, Slovakia experienced a series of plagiarism scandals involving liberal, conservative and right-wing populist politicians.

Although they were allowed to keep their academic degrees, the public was made aware of the issue.

The journalist Mária Benedikovičová from the daily newspaper "Dennik N" played a major role in clarifying the cases of plagiarism.

Without her research, Slovak higher education law would not have been modernized twice.