An analysis of her 2008 thesis showed that approximately half of the 87-page text is copied from other professional and university theses. According to the expert, this is an exceptionally serious violation of academic ethics, while the MP’s own author’s text appears only after the 50th page, the newspaper reports
Half the work without citations
Economist Irena Němcová received the title of Ing. in 2008 at the private Sting University in Brno, where she defended her thesis entitled “Prognosis of the development of the tourism market after the entry of the Czech Republic into the EU”. However, a thorough analysis published by Czech Radio confirmed that the text, including the titles of chapters and tables, was copied word for word from various sources without any proper citation.
Experts evaluate the detected range as unique. “Such a scale of copying other people’s works is exceptional, rare. The scope of the work is a really serious offense against academic ethics.” Jan Mach, an expert in detecting plagiarism from the Prague University of Economics, told iRozhlas.cz.
According to the findings, the original, author’s text of the deputy can be found only from page 51, while this part, describing her impressions of the trip, also contains copied passages.
The university has admitted wrongdoing, it can no longer withdraw the degree
The management of the Sting University confirmed serious deficiencies in the MP’s diploma thesis. Vice-rector Pavel Semerád admitted that the binding instructions for working with resources were violated during the processing of the work. At the same time, however, he pointed out that in 2008, modern tools for detecting plagiarism were not yet commonly available, and the main responsibility therefore lay with the supervisor and the opponent.
Solving the situation is complicated. Considering that more than seven years have passed since the defense of the work, Irena Němcova is not in danger of having her title revoked. Moreover, both the supervisor and the opponent have died in the meantime, which makes it impossible to solve their professional failure in terms of labor law consequences.
The MP defends herself: I don’t remember the details
Irena Němcová, who entered the House of Representatives for the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, answered journalists’ questions by referring to the time gap. She stated that the diploma thesis was created seventeen years ago and she can no longer recall the details.
“I provided links to the sources. However, if I omitted to mention any of the sources, it was not my intention,” the deputy wrote in response. The scandal comes only shortly after she solemnly took her oath in the Czech parliament.
