Publication	Sunday Times
Date	2007-05-20
Reporter	Jocelyn Maker, Megan Power
Web Link	www.sundaytimes.co.za

'No university is able to protect itself completely where there is collusion between internal and external examiners, in other words where the gatekeepers have conspired'

The impact of the technological highway continues to be felt throughout society. In the sphere of higher education it has posed new challenges that universities globally are battling to regulate efficiently. Prior to the emergence of the Internet, an academic could know what was available to students in terms of library resources and scholarly writings. Today the challenge is far greater, and this makes the detection and eradication of plagiarism more difficult.

The concept of plagiarism is at times misunderstood. In many areas of social life repeating word for word the sayings of another is regarded as learning, and accepted and even encouraged. An example is the ideal of repeating a religious text word for word. This is an acceptable form of learning but it is not the objective when writing an essay or thesis at the tertiary level of education. There is no taboo against repeating verbatim the words of another in an essay or thesis but, since the objective of such writing is to go beyond the present level of knowledge and demonstrate personal understanding on the part of the student, it is essential that the words and concepts of another be acknowledged. Should no acknowledgement exist, then the message is sent that this is the student’s or author’s own creation, and if this is not the case, this is plagiarism. Put another way, plagiarism is the theft of the ideas or writings of another by way of passing them off as one’s own.

Today universities accept that, no matter how renowned, no one person can know all of the information available, and the trend is to develop and use software to enable universities, for the first time in history, to implement an entirely independent check against plagiarism. The University of KwaZulu-Natal is evaluating a number of software packages and will shortly be introducing this additional tool in the examination process, so as to protect the integrity of our degrees. No university is able to protect itself completely where there is collusion between internal and external examiners, in other words where the gatekeepers have conspired. The sort of software we are introducing will, however, assist in this regard.

UKZN is committed to investigating substantiated allegations of plagiarised degrees. This is in line with our track record and a demonstrated commitment to knowledge production evident in the fact that UKZN is the second-most prolific producer of academic research in South Africa.

­ Professor Isobel Konyn
Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor Administration and Corporate Governance, University of KwaZulu-Natal