Pro gradu plagiarism brings punishment for student at Helsinki University

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According to a decision made by the Helsinki University Senate, a student who was found guilty of literary theft is to be expelled from the university for a year, starting from August 1st.
      In the spring of 2007, the student had left her pro gradu thesis for pre-approval, and it was subsequently found to have been plagiarised. The work had been copied in its entirety from the Internet.
      The middle-aged female student had compiled a Russian-language pro gradu thesis for the University of Helsinki’s Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures. Previously a thesis made by another person had already been approved in a Russian university as a diploma work and published on that university’s website, from where the Finnish student had copied it.
     
"The plagiarist is an undergraduate whose studies have been prolonged by many years. She attended a seminar already around ten years ago, and obviously suffered some kind of panic reaction, which led to this completely incomprehensible action", said Professor Arto Mustajoki, who is in charge of the Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures.
      "While it is extremely rare that a student is expelled from the University of Helsinki, this is also an unprecedented case", comments Head of Administration Kari Suokko.
      The punishment of fixed-term removal is based on the University Act, which states that a student who is found guilty of an offence relating to teaching or research activities can be given a warning or be expelled from university for a fixed-term period of up to 12 months.
     
Arto Mustajoki acknowledges that the problem of plagiarism does exist on a wider scale "out there", with the most awkward cases being those in which an academic work can simply be bought for cash. "I know that there are notices to this effect in Russia, and even a set of tariffs for works for sale."
      Perhaps the most famous case of plagiarism within the Finnish university system came some years ago, when it was reported that a graduate thesis by former MP and minister Jari Vilén, now taking up a position as Ambassador to Hungary, had been lifted in part from the history of a parish in the north of Finland.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Internet worth its weight in gold to students (16.1.2006)
  No further action on future minister´s thesis (3.1.2002)

Links:
  University of Helsinki

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