The
\nLiberal Sorin C\u00eempeanu Thursday night stepped down as education minister, amid
\nplagiarism allegations. The announcement of his resignation however made no
\nreference to academic fraud accusations. It was an opportunity and an honour
\nfor me to start a thorough reform of the national education system. I took over
\nthe ministry not because I had too much free time or to add this position to my
\nresume. I came at a very difficult time, with the desire to change things for
\nthe better, C\u00eempeanu posted on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n
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The
\noutgoing education minister takes pride in drafting the education laws as part
\nof a presidential programme entitled ‘Educated Romania,’ and announces he will
\ncontinue to support them as a professor, university rector and a Senator. <\/p>\n
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\n
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Sorin
\nC\u00eempeanu is accused of having plagiarised over 90 pages of a university course
\ntextbook from the work of 2 professors with the University of Agricultural
\nSciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest. The journalist Emilia \u015eercan, specialising
\nin the investigation of academic fraud, wrote that Sorin C\u00eempeanu had
\nappropriated 13 chapters published previously under the signature of two other
\nprofessors. The then-minister dismissed the allegations, claiming that they had
\nbeen made by people who were trying by all means to hinder the education laws, and
\nwhom he described as wholesome illiterates. <\/p>\n
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With
\nthis resignation, Sorin C\u00eempeanu also dodged the uncomfortable motion under
\nwhich the Opposition was asking him to step down. Romania educated to cheat. Sorin C\u00eempeanu is a disgrace
\nto education is the tale-telling title of the motion text. The move has
\nnow lost all practical significance, but the issue of plagiarism remains a
\nplague among politicians, and seems to grow acute. C\u00eempeanu’s own party chief,
\nthe PM Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, is himself suspected of plagiarism. And the lure of
\nacademic fraud sweeps the entire political class, irrespective of parties. A
\nformer prime minister, the Social Democrat Victor Ponta, was proved to be a
\nplagiarist. <\/p>\n
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The reform in which C\u00eempeanu takes so much pride,
\nbut which is criticised in many respects, includes a suspicious measure, to say
\nthe least, namely the dismantling of the National Council Attesting Academic
\nTitles, Diplomas and Certificates. The measure is not constructive and
\ndoes not contribute to a true reform of the education sector, argue the leaders
\nof several universities. They
\nbelieve the allegations against Sorin C\u00eempeanu must be analysed thoroughly, outside
\nany kind of pressure, by the relevant bodies of the university in question and
\nother public institutions. <\/p>\n
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The
\ntheft will go on, until Romania has implemented in-depth reform, able to return
\neducation to where it belongs, next to hard work and honesty, says the MEP Dacian
\nCiolo\u015f, a former technocratic prime minister. He believes C\u00eempeanu’s
\nresignation to be a failed act, in that it does not explain the resignation,
\nbut rather claims only achievements and accomplishments. (AMP)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sorin C\u00eempeanu stepped down as education minister, amid plagiarism allegations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":92860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[37063,28904,30318,30675,34778],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-93318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-allegations","tag-education","tag-minister","tag-plagiarism","tag-resign"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n