Minister faces PhD plagiarism allegations
The University of Regensburg is investigating the doctorate thesis of a German government minister amid allegations a section of it was plagiarized.
On Wednesday development minister Gerd Müller became the latest in a line of German ministers to face plagiarism allegations over their doctorate works.
The 58-year-old Christian Social Democrat (CSU) politician allegedly plagiarized a passage of his PhD thesis written in 1987 about Bavaria's political youth.
Plagirism investigator Martin Heidingsfelder told Bild newspaper there were errors in the passage. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, certain quoted passages were not correctly cited.
But Müller denied the allegations and described them as "incomprehensible".
His spokeswoman told Die Welt newspaper that the minister welcomed the investigation by the University of Regensburg’s ombudsman as it would provide clarity on the situation.
In February last year Germany’s education minister Annette Schavan quit over plagiarism of her doctorate thesis.
Her resignation followed that of defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg who resigned in 2011 amid allegations he too had plagiarized his PhD work.
Comments
See Also
On Wednesday development minister Gerd Müller became the latest in a line of German ministers to face plagiarism allegations over their doctorate works.
The 58-year-old Christian Social Democrat (CSU) politician allegedly plagiarized a passage of his PhD thesis written in 1987 about Bavaria's political youth.
Plagirism investigator Martin Heidingsfelder told Bild newspaper there were errors in the passage. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, certain quoted passages were not correctly cited.
But Müller denied the allegations and described them as "incomprehensible".
His spokeswoman told Die Welt newspaper that the minister welcomed the investigation by the University of Regensburg’s ombudsman as it would provide clarity on the situation.
In February last year Germany’s education minister Annette Schavan quit over plagiarism of her doctorate thesis.
Her resignation followed that of defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg who resigned in 2011 amid allegations he too had plagiarized his PhD work.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.