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The University Grants Commission (UGC) is advocating for a national plagiarism policy to uphold academic integrity and deter plagiarism. The commission's 49th annual report for 2022 highlights the need for such a policy, given the absence of effective tools to detect plagiarism in Bengali research and the lack of a plagiarism policy in Bangladeshi universities. The UGC also proposes a 'VC pool' system to ensure transparent appointments of Vice-Chancellors, Pro Vice-Chancellors, and treasurers in both public and private universities.

In Pakistan, urgent reforms are needed to protect academic integrity and prevent the exploitation of marginalized individuals by those in power. Instances abound of professors, policy experts, and retired state officials plagiarizing the work of assistants, students, and junior professionals. For instance, at a prestigious institution in Islamabad, a Star Professor plagiarized the work of a former student and colleague and escaped consequences due to institutional support.

The acting Rector COMSATS Institute of Technology (CIIT) has been allegedly found involved in a plagiarized research work in which he was a co-author and published the paper in a national research journal in 2007. 65% text of the said research paper has been found similar with a number of other papers after its verification in the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) plagiarism detecting software ‘Turnitin’. As per HEC policy no research publication for PhD work should have above 19% similar index in overall, and 4% from a single source, an official said.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) will meet next week to decide the fate of its second most important officer whose research paper was found to be 88 percent plagiarized. The Chairman had set up a committee to probe the allegations of plagiarism against the commission’s Executive Director (ED). Sources said after the issue came to the light through a news story published in this paper, the committee formed by the HEC Chairman held a meeting this week to review the Executive Director’s research paper which was found plagiarized.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has expressed concerns at universities not following the commission’s plagiarism policy by not taking action on plagiarism complaints against their faculty. HEC’s Plagiarism Standing Committee met on Friday to discuss plagiarism complaints against faculty members of 10 universities. The committee, comprising educationists and representatives of various universities, deliberated upon complaints that have not been actioned upon by the respective universities within 90 days of registration of a complaint, as per the HEC regulations.

The academic spectrum across several Pakistani universities has become infected with the deadly plague of plagiarism. Academic integrity seems to have melted in the heat of churning out research papers to receive more grants, promotions and other benefits.

Plagiarism at the higher education level has been an open secret, with many suspected plagiarists holding senior faculty positions in different universities across the country. But in a comical turn, the Higher Education Commission recently gave its best research paper award to a scholar who had been blacklisted by the regulatory body in 2008 for publishing a plagiarized paper.

University of Peshawar's Vice Chancellor has been found involved in plagiarism by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) that was constituted to probe into the matter.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has asked all the universities of the country to provide a digital or computerised copy of the theses submitted by the students doing M Phil or PhD, so that it can upload all the theses on its website and an automatic check established. According to sources HEC have asked universities managements to warn postgraduate students that plagiarism would result in their degrees being cancelled. More than 5,000 people have been awarded PhD degree from various universities of the country out of which 1,000 have been uploaded on HEC website.