Plagiarism
Sandra Borch’s master’s thesis was penalized for text similarity when it was judged in 2014, says the retired minister.
Sandra at one of her last public appearances before she stepped down as minister, the Contact Conference at Lillestrom in January. On the left, the Ministry of Education’s communications manager Anders Lundell. Photo: Ketil Blom Haugstulen
The former minister of research and education went public on 19 January when it was revealed that her master’s thesis had major text similarities with previous assignments.
Now she talks openly about her departure and the plagiarism NRK and The daily newspaper.
Among other things, she says that she has subsequently gained access to the censorship from the University of Tromsø and that she received a warning for plagiarism even then.
— UiT found 15 percent text similarity in my master’s thesis and went through two checks because I was a public figure. They pulled me in for missing source references, says Borch to Dagbladet.
— I did not know that I had been “caught” for plagiarism when I left, but it had not changed anything for me. In 2014, the regulations were not as strict as they are today, but you only need to glance at my thesis and you will find excerpts of text that I have copied where even the typos are identical.
plagiarism
Are they caught cheating? It may take eight months before we get the answer
Hectic period
Borch explains the shortcuts she took with the fact that she wrote the thesis during a hectic period when she was a leader in Senterungdommen. She admits that she did not spend much time on the task.
Sandra Borch had to hand over the key to the minister’s office to Oddmund Hoel when she left. Skjalg Böhmer Vold
The former minister refers to the copying from other tasks as sloppiness and poor craftsmanship, and asks to be believed that she never meant to cheat.
— There is no doubt that I have made mistakes, but I have never done it consciously. If I had deliberately cheated, I would never have published my master’s thesis publicly online, says Borch to Dagbladet.
On NRK’s Dagsrevyen, she was asked if she did not know the regulations for source references, or if she was just giving up on it.
– I understand that it looks strange from the outside, and I am very sorry for what has happened. But I have not deliberately cheated, but clearly been sloppy, she replies.
Cheating
More than one fifth of the assignment may be copied
— Other regulations
Borch further points out that the case is now with UiT Norway’s Arctic University, which will reassess it.
— There is no doubt that the regulations in 2014 are different from the regulations today. But I am absolutely very clear that this was a mistake on my part that was not compatible with being Minister of Research and Higher Education, and I am very sorry for that.
Borch says that she did not think that she had been sloppy in her master’s thesis when she was asked to become minister for research and higher education.
— No, I didn’t. I understand that people ask questions about it, and haven’t thought about it in hindsight, either. Had I consciously done this, I would have at least done it when I was asked that question. Had I been aware of it, I would never have agreed to publish my master’s thesis publicly when I was given the choice to do so. Not many people do that, says Sandra Borch to Dagsrevyen’s journalist.
When she got the examination in 2014, she only got to see the grade itself, not the examiner’s assessment of the assignment, she explains.
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