Kenyatta University has revoked a PhD awarded to one of its lecturers in 2018 over plagiarism.
According to a statement by KU Vice-Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina, an investigation committee set up by the university had established the lecturer was guilty of plagiarising the thesis of a Nigerian scholar based at Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto, Nigeria.
The statement further stated the lecturer had surrendered the original doctorate degree certificate issued to him and had also been discontinued from teaching in the social sciences department.
He said the university had set up a committee to investigate after receiving a complaint from a senior lecturer in Nigeria.
“The KU lecturer had been awarded a PhD on August 4, 2018 for a thesis he had submitted. Upon receipt of the complaint, the VC set up a committee to review the validity of the claims,” added the statement.
He said the committee’s report handed in on April 12, 2019 confirmed overwhelming evidence of plagiarism.
“The investigations established that the lecturer and a staffer in his department had colluded to circumvent the internal KU mechanism, where all theses are subjected to an anti-plagiarism software check when they are turned in.
Even though the thesis had failed the plagiarism check, the staffer had given the thesis the green light,” said Wainaina in a report filed by Nation.
He said the lecturer was immediately discontinued after he appeared before a student disciplinary committee on the same matter on Thursday, September 19, 2019.
This comes as Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture (JKUAT) is reviewing 118 PhDs it awarded to students in June 2019.
READ ALSO: Kristina Pratt: Kenyatta University to Award Uhuru’s Sister Honorary PhD
This follows an investigation by the Commission for University Education (CUE), which revealed massive irregularities.
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