Romania’s Education Minister asks local university to take clear stance on plagiarism cases

Romania’s Education Minister Mircea Dumitru said he expected the “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy to take on a clear stand on the plagiarism cases haunting the academy. The institution should either ask for the withdrawal of the PhD titles or should take responsibility for plagiarism, the Minister said. Several politicians have recently submitted requests to give up their PhD titles received from the “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy. Their decision was related to the allegations made in the media that their PhD theses contained plagiarism. The academy, however, hasn’t taken any stance in this case yet. The politicians who want to give up their titles include the former interior minister Radu Stroe, former defense minister Mihai Stanisoara, Romania’s deputy general prosecutor Bogdan Licu, and Neculai Ontanu, the former mayor of Bucharest’s District 2. They have submitted requests to give up their PhD titles, without mentioning that it was a plagiarism case, the Education Minister said. He added that the Ministry would come up with a procedure for assessing the PhD schools by September. Former Romanian Prime Minister loses doctor degree due to plagiarism editor@romania-insider.com