Staff Plagiarism Scandal Rocks HCT!

Yes, it's not just the students who cheat at HCT - the academic staff are at it too! The following report has been a long time coming, due to various concerns on the part of the writer, who is very close to Mission Control at HCT. Yet I feel that you will agree, it has been worth the wait!

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Plagiarised reports? Dodgy PhDs? Not here, boss …

The Head Honchos at HCT have been sitting on this veritable Pandora’s Box of academic malpractice for many months now, fearing that the fireworks might explode into the public domain and effectively finish off HCT’s already extremely tarnished reputation.

Well, here we go…

Last Spring, word reached the very peak of the HCT directorate that two of its academic directors had been accused of almost entirely plagiarizing several research papers published in an Iranian academic journal. Although they were initially assured that the theft represented isolated incidents (as if that makes it less reprehensible), a research fellow from one of the main universities in Teheran later contacted HCT to drop some very bad news: it was just the tip of the iceberg.

In fact, it has recently been discovered that, over the past year, half a dozen other Iranian researchers have reported their papers being extensively plagiarized and republished under Emirati names in peer-reviewed journals published in academic journals in Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. In some cases it appears that the research papers had first seen life as articles in Farsi, but were then translated into English and submitted by the shameless Emirati ‘authors’ as their own work. These authors’ links to HCT have already been proven, but their names have been protected by the fog of secrecy that regularly swirls around Central Services. Although everybody knows their names, nobody dare speak them.

According to the latest informed rumors, all but one of the shameful plagiarists have confessed to their wrongdoing, admitted their plagiarism, and then gone on to retract their papers. However, clear evidence of the above is hard for an 'outsider' to find, as all names and titles have been diluted to the point of transparency. And not one of the thieves has been made to surrender their post.

Another case involving a Middle Eastern university reveals that an article submitted by a prominent HCT director included sentences apparently lifted verbatim from a master’s dissertation submitted by a Turkish student. The same piece of research included some original material written in poor English, whereas other parts featured passages written very eloquently, almost as if they were written by a third party. The phenomenon of paying somebody else to write your academic papers is, of course, not unique to the HCT, being rife throughout the Middle East. But only HCT would wish to hush it up, rather than hang out the perpetrators to dry. Isn’t that right?

However, I have saved the best (possibly) for last. So, please tell me - just who is the VIP HCT employee who cribbed the main part of his Doctorate from a Pakistani research fellow’s work, added a few of his own observations, and then submitted it to another university as entirely his own work? Just who is this ruthless and disreputable specimen of humanity, who betrayed a former colleague? Do we have a name to match to this heinous academic crime? I believe that the whole of HCT Central Services know who this person is, but their fearful silence speaks volumes.

Or can somebody else fill in the missing parts of the jigsaw in the Comments Section below?