Not the researchers, but the UGC itself is now accused of plagiarism in its draft curriculum

April 7: In the domain of higher education, the University Grants Commission (UGC) is the parent body in India and is itself responsible for ensuring academic integrity. UGC has even issued strict regulations to punish plagiarism. However, the UGC, which is entrusted with the tasks of coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education, has now been accused of being involved in plagiarism itself while drafting the Four Year Under-graduate Programme (FYUGP). This was alleged by Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), a teachers’ body of Delhi University.

Plagiarism is the representation of another language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one’s own original work. In educational contexts, there are differing definitions of plagiarism depending on the institution. Plagiarism is considered a violation of academic integrity and a breach of journalistic ethics.

The BJP-led Union government while introducing the NEP 2020, had proclaimed that a major shift from the colonial pattern as introduced by Macaulay would find its place in the education policy based on an indigenous system. However, such proclamations appears to get contested as the UGC, a statutory body set up by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India has now been accused of being involved in copying from websites of foreign universities. Instead of relying upon much popularised ‘ancient Indian pattern’, Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), a teachers’ body of Delhi University has pointed out seven examples — six copied from the website of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan, and one from the website of the University of Arizona.

In Section 5.1 of the draft under the subsection ‘Humanities’, it is written: “Creative expression courses will include hands-on activities that allow students to express their creativity through a wide range of arts, including through playing a musical instrument, composing music, or arranging music and using many different mediums, including ceramics, metalworking, paper and textiles, woodworking, and glass.” The DTF says this is plagiarised from the LSA website, which under the Section ‘Area definitions’ and subsection ‘Creative Expression’ states the same content in toto.

In a statement, the DTF said: “The UGC draft FYUGP is a mindless cut-paste from foreign universities and is divorced from the ground realities in which higher education takes place; it increases the financial burden on students with an additional year but provides no meaningful academic content.”

From the University of Arizona, the UGC borrows the point on “Lower-division courses” which it names under “Foundation or introductory courses”. The similarity in University of Arizona’s point starts from the third sentence of the UGC.

In the section regarding semesters 1,2,3 where the UGC draft says, “The courses relating to these areas of learning aim at instilling an understanding and an appreciation of all main areas of learning. Though students are not required to master all areas in detail, they are expected to develop a coherent view of essential concepts, structures, and intellectual methods that characterise each of these areas of learning.” This looks to have been lifted from the very first paragraph of the section ‘Area Distribution Requirement‘ of the College for Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) of the University of Michigan, alleged DTF.

The UGC while including the courses that are a part of the Natural sciences adds again almost the same words as that of LSA website. The University of Arizona website, under Academic Policies, states that “lower-division courses generally focus on foundational theories, concepts, perspectives, principles, methods, and procedures of critical thinking in order to provide a broad basis for more advanced courses”. The FYUGP draft on ‘Foundation and introductory courses’ reads: “These courses generally would focus on foundational theories, concepts, perspectives, principles, methods, and procedures of critical thinking in order to provide a broad basis for taking up more advanced courses.”

UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said, “This has just come to our notice and we have passed on the feedback on to the committee members (that drafted the FYUGP document). They are looking into it.” The UGC Chairman further stated that this is only the draft version and the final document will be prepared only after incorporating the views expressed by the stakeholders. However, the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) (a teachers’ body of Delhi University) stressed on the fact with several examples of plagiarism by the UGC and demanded that such attempts are a blot on the face of higher education scenario of the country.