Plagiarisms and Fake PhDs
We, the undersigned university professors, lecturers, assistants, researchers, doctors and doctoral students, support the efforts of our colleagues Dr Uglješa Grušić, Dr Branislav Radeljić, Slobodan Tomić, Dr Marko Milanović and Dr Miljana Radivojević to shed light on the unethical actions that characterize a segment of the Serbian academic community. Their articles, published on Peščanik – dealing with the plagiarized PhD dissertation of the minister of the interior, Nebojša Stefanović, and the non-existent London doctorate of Mića Jovanović , the minister’s PhD supervisor and the owner and rector of the Megatrend University – have sparked a debate about some of the key issues concerning the longstanding destruction of the Serbian education system and academic community, which in turn affect the social and economic wellbeing of the country.
With this in mind, we invite the competent institutions, first and foremost the Ministry of education, science and technological development of the Republic of Serbia, to do the following:
1) Form an independent commission, composed of respected and credible professors from Serbia and abroad, to review the findings that parts of the PhD dissertation of Nebojša Stefanović have been plagiarized, and examine its scientific quality;
2) Review the license of Megatrend University, in particular to award doctorates, in light of numerous suspected violations of ethical norms;
3) Review all similar current and future cases at both private and public universities;
4) Take into special account the respect for ethical standards and rules, as well as the existence of adequate mechanisms to deal with cases of suspected violations of ethical norms when issuing licenses for university programs;
5) Regulate the publication, in electronic form, all masters and doctoral dissertations issued by private and public universities, so that they are made available to the public.
We also encourage all institutions and participants in this debate to approach this problem in a responsible manner and not merely politicize it.
The petition, June 2014
Peščanik.net, 11.06.2014.
Marko Milanović i Miljana Radivojević – Getting a PhD in Serbia: the case of minister Stefanović
Marko Milanović i Miljana Radivojević – Rector Jovanović, this is still not a London doctorate
Viktor Ivančić – Government and terror
Vesna Pešić – A fake doctorate pierced the balloon
Aleksandar Stević – Closing time
Vesna Pešić – Dunja has it in for Vucic
Mijat Lakićević – Justice for Nebojsa
Dejan Ilić – The Prime Minister’s letter
Miljenko Dereta – An open letter to the minister of education Srdjan Verbic