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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.

Universities may attract penalty, including a freeze of grants, if its teachers are found to be guiding more than eight PhD students at any given point in time as part of a drive to plug lacunae in research. The University Grants Commission will ask all universities to have anti-plagiarism software to ensure that the thesis papers reflect genuine research. The step assumes significance against the backdrop of some agencies offering their services to research scholars to draft theses for them for a fee.

Universities increase measures to combat academic fraud as websites offer to do work. A proliferation of online services for third-level students offering “pay as you go” essays has prompted universities to review their policies against plagiarism. DCU is one of a number of institutions that are altering their methods of assessment, in tandem with the rollout of “cut-and-paste” detection software, to combat the threat of academic fraud.

Plagiarism is an issue of concern in institutions of learning across the world. There are several widely held ideas about plagiarism in Nigeria, but they have not been substantiated because of a lack of empirical findings. However, a recently completed doctoral research project on student plagiarism in Nigerian universities has thrown more light on the matter.

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.