Can the degree law be ready to curb academic misconduct?
Experts suggest to promote the self-taught degree of universities and improve the gatekeeping responsibilities of universities
□ Our reporter Zhao Chenxi
In order to improve the degree legal system in my country, promote the development of graduate education, and improve the quality of degree work, in accordance with the legislative planning and deployment of the 13th National People's Congress Standing Committee, the Ministry of Education has researched and formed the "Draft of the Degree Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)". To openly solicit opinions from the society.
A reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" learned that the draft degree law draft has 7 chapters and 38 articles, which stipulate the scope of application of the law, the degree management system, the degree-granting procedures, and degree quality assurance and relief.
In accordance with the provisions of the draft for comments, the State Council has established a degree committee to be responsible for leading the national degree awarding work.
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, told reporters that the draft degree law for soliciting opinions was revised from the current "Regulations on Academic Degrees of the People's Republic of China."
The degree regulations came into effect on January 1, 1981, and it was the first law in the field of education in my country.
"By improving the degree legal system, further regulating degree-granting activities, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of degree applicants, and ensuring the implementation of the degree system will help promote the high-quality development of my country's education." Chu Zhaohui said.
Academic misconduct has become a major "stubborn disease" of higher education
The draft for comments pointed out that the country implements a degree system, with degrees divided into three levels: bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees, divided into academic degrees, professional degrees, and other types.
A degree is an important indicator of students' knowledge, ability, and academic level in the corresponding subject. However, academic misconduct such as plagiarism of thesis has been commonplace, and has even become a major "stubborn disease" in the field of higher education.
The actor Zhai Tianlin's academic misconduct incident that was exposed in 2019 is a typical case.
Netizens questioned Zhai Tianlin’s doctorate due to the phrase “What is HowNet?” in the live broadcast. After investigation by relevant departments and Peking University, the key statement in a paper published by Zhai Tianlin’s PhD student during his studies used the opinions of other experts. However, no quotation was made to explain that there was academic misconduct, and Zhai Tianlin's doctorate was eventually revoked.
"The plagiarism of papers is not only a manifestation of the lack of honesty and trustworthiness of the counterfeiter, but also a very bad influence on other students." Li Mingliang, a professor at the International Business School of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, pointed out that for the plagiarers, this kind of behavior would be undetected if luckily It will create a bad atmosphere for other students, and everyone will no longer concentrate on learning. If you have any problems, just "refer to" peers. It will affect the overall learning and exploration atmosphere and is not conducive to the further development of academic research; for the plagiarized In other words, the plagiarism of one's own results is a very hit thing, and it will directly affect one's enthusiasm in academic research.
Li Mingliang also found that some students repeatedly modified the language expression and sequence of paragraphs for some plagiarized content in pursuit of a low repetition rate of the paper, resulting in the lack of logic in the paper, and some students even subjectively compiled survey data and fabricated in the writing process. Application literature, etc.
In this regard, Chu Zhaohui pointed out that academic fraud and academic misconduct are not only issues of integrity and fairness, but also undermine the healthy development of the entire academic environment, violate academic research theories, are not conducive to the innovation of the entire academic community, and hinder scientific research. Technological progress.
Three situations may be revoked degree
In response to the problems of academic fraud and academic misconduct, the draft for comments puts forward that if applicants for a degree have academic misconduct or falsification during the study period of the degree-granting unit, as well as in the process of degree application, peer review, and defense, the degree evaluation committee may make a disapproval. The decision to award his degree.
For those who have already obtained a degree, if there are serious plagiarism, forgery, plagiarism, data fraud and other academic misconducts in the process of obtaining the degree, the quality does not meet the standard; illegal means such as impersonation, cheating for personal gains, etc. Those who have obtained enrollment qualifications or graduation certificates; if there are other violations of laws and regulations that should not be granted during the study period, and in one of the above three situations, the degree-granting unit shall revoke the degree, withdraw or announce the degree after the deliberation and decision of the degree evaluation committee The certificate is invalid.
"This is a highlight of the draft for comments." Chu Zhaohui pointed out that Article 17 of the current degree regulations stipulates: "For degree-granting units that have been awarded degrees, if they are found to have serious violations of the regulations, such as fraud and falsification, It can be revoked upon reconsideration by the Academic Degree Evaluation Committee.” However, this provision is too principled and is not conducive to the crackdown on academic misconduct in practice.
The draft for soliciting opinions is not only implemented directly to degree applicants, but also listed specific cases of academic misconduct and academic fraud, marked with red lines, increased legal deterrence, and facilitated future implementation.
It is worth noting that the draft for comments also provides an opportunity for degree applicants to defend.
It is stipulated that degree-granting units shall listen to the statements and defenses of degree applicants or degree winners before making a decision not to award a degree or revoke a degree.
It is recommended to promote self-taught degrees in universities
In fact, in response to the plagiarism of papers and other issues, the education department has repeatedly issued relevant regulations to crack down on it.
For example, the Ministry of Education issued the "Measures for Sampling Inspection of Undergraduate Thesis (Design) (for Trial Implementation)", which requires that the pilot work of sampling inspection of undergraduate thesis (design) be initiated from January 1, 2021. In principle, the proportion of random inspections for thesis awarded to a bachelor's degree in the previous academic year should not be less than 2%.
Can the relevant regulations in the draft for comment completely curb the "stubborn disease" of academic misconduct?
In this regard, Xiong Bingqi, deputy dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, gave a cautiously optimistic attitude. He believed that although the draft for comments has added a lot of content compared with the current degree regulations, a key issue has been avoided, and that is to promote higher education. Self-taught degree.
Xiong Bingqi pointed out that my country’s degree management system has always been composed of three levels: national, local, and degree-granting units. The state implements strict plan management, including the authorization and review of degrees, the establishment of disciplines, the evaluation of degrees, and the issuance of certificates. All are included in the unified national administrative plan.
From the perspective of international experience, many countries are awarded degrees by schools independently. This approach will not only lead to the proliferation of academic qualifications, but will greatly enhance the school's gatekeeping responsibilities.
Xiong Bingqi explained that under the current national uniform degree-granting system, the schools and institutions that have the right to grant degrees actually grant degrees on behalf of the country, and will not pay too much attention to the quality of training, because the degrees awarded are all recognized by the state, and the school does not There is no need to be responsible for the quality of training, which is the root cause of the phenomenon of mixed degrees.
Under the implementation of the degree-granting system of self-sponsored education and self-taught degrees by schools, universities must be responsible for the quality of training. When students choose colleges and universities, they must also shift from pursuing a diploma to focusing on the education they obtain. This will also help improve the "one-thousand-one aspect" of Chinese universities. Happening.
Chu Zhaohui agreed with this.
"According to the draft for comments, the degree management system in China is divided into the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council, the Education Administration Department of the State Council, the Provincial Degree Committee, the University Degree Evaluation Committee, and several sub-committees under the Degree Evaluation Committee. The original national degree is still maintained. Form.” Chu Zhaohui believes that although this system is compatible with the current administrative system, it has many administrative levels and a long power chain, which objectively makes it difficult for professional power to ensure the quality of degrees in all aspects, and is likely to cause academic misconduct. Leave an opportunity.
"In the case that all school degrees are still awarded by the degree committee, in fact, multi-agents from top to bottom assume the responsibility for the quality of the degree. It is difficult to avoid that some degree-granting points are "eating a big pot" and do not have the quality of the degree awarded by themselves. A sense of responsibility to the end; in internal management, the boundaries of responsibilities and powers related to the education, training, and evaluation of degree grantees are unclear, and there is a phenomenon of mutual restraint." Chu Zhaohui said.
Chu Zhaohui found that this consultation draft used "higher education institutions and scientific research institutions that implement higher education in accordance with the law, and they have been approved to become degree-granting units, and that they have obtained the qualifications for degree-granting in corresponding disciplines and majors to become degree-granting points. The expression “the authority to grant degrees” does not clarify whether the degree is awarded by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council or the degree-granting point. The key issue is not clear enough, and this is the key to promoting self-approved degrees in universities.
There have been attempts to self-taught degrees in universities.
In April 2018, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council issued the "Opinions on the Autonomous Review of Degree Authorization in Higher Education Institutions" and the list. 20 universities including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Renmin University of China were allowed to conduct independent review of degree authorization.
However, Chu Zhaohui pointed out that universities are still subject to more restrictions in practice.
How to more actively implement the reform requirements of higher education’s “delegation, management, and service”, downplay the highly administrative direct management and strict planning management of the degree granting work, and at the same time fully respect the autonomy and discretion of the degree granting unit. Colleges and universities take more responsibility for the quality of their degrees, and make the quality of their degrees more directly related to their own reputation and opportunities for survival and development. This is the key to eliminating academic misconduct from the source.
This is not only a direction to be further explored in the revision of the Degree Law, but also an unavoidable issue in the reform of China's higher education management system.