UDS tackling academic plagiarism - VC

Wa, July 29, GNA - Vice Chancellor for the University of Development Studies Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye has urged students of the University to avoid patronising services of thesis contractors in fulfilment of their academic work requirement. 

"Some students contract professional thesis writers for a fee and present such works as their products" he said. "As you may have realised, these practices reflect in performances on the job after graduation".

He added:  "This explains why employers in industry are now complaining about the quality of products from the universities and other training institutions".

The Vice Chancellor made this call during a matriculation ceremony at Wa Campus for fresh students admitted into the University to pursue sandwich programmes leading to the award of various degrees.

He said the Graduate Board was tackling the issue of plagiarism head-on, hence, no Term Paper,  Dissertation or Thesis would be accepted for assessment without plagiarised reports attached from the  University library. 

"I therefore urge you to subject your documents at various stages to the plagiarism test and not simply download material from the internet and change names to reflect the location of your research".

"This is academic thievery and dishonesty must be condemned in the strongest words possible," he added.

Professor Teye observed that students viewed pursuing sandwich programmes as an easier path to obtaining higher degrees and as such hardly visited library facilities nor made use of the E - resources at their disposal.

According to him, students therefore left the academic institution largely ignorant and without developing their critical and analytical skills.

The fresh students were advised to act as role models, respect the university's rules and regulations as they moved on with their studies diligently.

The VC called on government to beef up security around the campuses and more especially the Wa Campus, where there were multiple reports of attacks on both lectures and students losing motorbikes and mobile phones.

A total of 220 students were admitted for the 2019/ 2020 academic year sandwich programme.

GNA

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