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Weeks after Germany's defense minister was forced to resign in a plagiarism scandal, three German universities say they are investigating similar complaints about the academic work of three figures from the country's political sphere.

Yet another senior German politician is the focus of questions about his doctoral thesis. Lower Saxony's Minister of Cultural Affairs is alleged to have quoted incorrectly several sources in his dissertation, creating the impression that he originated more of the content than was actually the case.

The University of Düsseldorf has withdrawn the doctoral title of Germany's Minister of Education and Research, claiming that she lifted material for her thesis. While the Minister is seeking to contest the university's verdict, the opposition in parliament has called for her resignation. A Bonn academic and law expert has claimed that the case may have damaged higher education as a whole in Germany.

A leading North Rhine-Westphalian politician has been caught up in a scandal over a botched-up seminar test. The Christian Democrat failed to observe correct procedures for test papers as a visiting lecturer at RWTH Aachen University.

The German Defence Minister has denied claims she plagiarised parts of her doctoral thesis after a crowd-sourced plagiarism hunting website claimed to have found "elements of plagiarism" on 27 of the 62 pages of her 1990 dissertation.