Iris Velázquez / Reform Agency
Thursday, January 19, 2023 | 22:49
Mexico City.- To avoid “extraordinary cases”, such as that of the thesis of Minister Yasmín Esquivel involved in a proven plagiarism issue, rectors and directors of higher education institutions in the Country spoke out to reinforce the mechanisms against these practices that they maintained, damage the image and the prestige.
In an interview, the university leaders, both from public and private schools, denied having had a case of plagiarism of endorsed and/or published theses, or that had been discovered after issuing a university degree.
Need to update
José Carlos Arredondo Velázquez, Rector of the Technological University of the State of Querétaro (UTEQ), considered that cases like this force Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to update their regulations and legislation.
“Obviously, all the regulations of all the universities must contemplate these eventualities. We have to be very, very careful to update the regulations of all our institutions, which does not allow any student or graduate to fall into any regulatory irregularity,” he explained.
“All universities must be aware of the evolution of the moments in which we live, be very aware of the areas of opportunity of our regulations and of course, be very careful that absolutely no irregularities escape the regulations,” he added.
Rubén de Jesús Ibarra Reyes, Rector of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ), said that despite having mechanisms to sanction irregularities of this type, prevention is necessary with stronger legislation.
“We have them (mechanisms) through different ways, we have that part, but it must also be said, we are working on strengthening, let’s say, our university legislation. Obviously, it is wrong for me to say it, but this (case of plagiarism at UNAM), It should also teach us that we must be much clearer in our internal regulations and we are already starting a process.
“In fact, last week with the collegiate presidency of the University of Zacatecas, we started a process to review and update our internal regulations,” he said.
Meanwhile, Luis Felipe Guerrero Agripino, Rector of the University of Guanajuato (UGto) indicated that although there have been no cases of the magnitude seen at UNAM, actions should be focused to avoid other cases.
“What we have to do is work hard on prevention,” he stressed.
Luis Arriaga Valenzuela, Rector of the Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City, agreed with this.
“At the Universidad Iberoamericana we have not yet come across a situation like the one that UNAM has, it is a very complicated situation, and we hope it will be resolved in accordance with the law. There are institutional mechanisms to review these allegedly illegal actions that can be committed in the university,” he said.
José Mata Temoltzin, Rector of the Anáhuac Puebla University, highlighted that this institution has worked on guidelines to avoid, detect and punish plagiarism. This institution even stipulates the annulment of any title issued if any illegality is found.
The interviewee highlighted that it is a relevant issue for this university.
“We have very clear, very precise mechanisms that we have made public for a long time, which we seek to ensure that these schemes that have unfortunately occurred do not occur in our institution. Obviously, it is a very important issue to ensure that all people seeking academic development have sufficient mechanisms to do so properly,” he said.
Anti-plagiarism software used decades ago
On January 6, in the context of this controversial case, the UNAM announced that it will use specialized software to detect plagiarism of professional and undergraduate theses. However, it has been used at least two decades ago by other institutions for the same purpose.
Arturo Reyes Sandoval, general director of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), a house of studies that stands out in the country for its technical specialties, was consulted about the use of these programs.
He responded that their use, according to his experience as a scientist and researcher both in Mexico and in the United States, dates back about 20 years by universities that use them as a filter.
“To detect any resemblance between those writings, but also scientific research journals at the moment they already have the article in their hands, they run that program and then they give us feedback and suddenly they tell us ‘there are 24, 30 percent of similar in this paragraph, we recommend you reissue it, so it’s been around 20 years since I know of the existence of these programs that are improving day by day”, he pointed out.
“What we do (in the IPN) is use computer tools, special software that detects the percentage of similarity between writing and writing, between publications, between theses. So it is very important that all these tools that already exist are applied, they are at a commercial level and that we use them to prevent this from happening (plagiarism),” he added.
Despite having it in the institution under his charge, he considered that it is important to redouble the analysis and attention, in addition to looking for this to expand to more jobs in the institution and collaborate with others in it.
“(At Poli) it is one of these programs that we already have as part of the scientific publication processes, since we have been using it, I think that we should expand, use it more in other types of work that may include undergraduate theses and work more hand in hand with each of the academies to strengthen this area so that these cases do not arise.
“Here I would say that we have to keep our eyes and ears very attentive in each of the higher education institutions, in research papers, theses, publications in scientific articles (…) Well, we must keep our eyes open and always be working with the community so that these cases do not arise,” insisted Reyes Sandoval.
How common is plagiarism in universities?
Luis Armando González Placencia, in one of his first opinions expressed as General Secretary of the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education (ANUIES) said that cases of plagiarism of thesis are not common in the houses of study, and applauded the uses of software to avoid them.
“There are many reasons why plagiarism occurs, they are not only bad reasons, sometimes they also have to do with imprudence or carelessness, of course, all those that have to do with bad reasons must be eradicated at the root, deep down, but also the procedures have advanced in such a way that the anti-plagiarism instruments become educational instruments, training instruments.
“That has come a long way, so this case (Minister’s thesis) was unfortunate, but it is 2 or 3 decades old, it is not a current problem in the country’s universities and if it were, there are instruments to solve it,” he considered.
In this regard, Christian Jorge Torres Ortiz Zermeño, Rector of the University of Colima (UdeC) said that the institution under his charge has been oblivious to a case similar to that of the UNAM, but in the event that its University Council arises, it is empowered to act in consequences through its Honor and Justice Commission.
