《苏格兰人》报道:中国学术造假凸现更大范围的社会弊病
7 06 2006年中国学术造假凸现更大范围的社会弊病
Benjamin Robertson 北京报道
《苏格兰人》2006年6月6日
如果方是民开始调查你的履历,你就要当心了。做为一名自由撰稿人,方先
生用业余的时间挖掘中国最受尊敬的文化和学术偶像——大学教授的污点。
方先生持续不断地对学术造假进行揭露,使得该国高等教育系统受到一连串
大人物丑闻的冲击。
上个月,曾被誉为新一代芯片之父的陈进教授在被证明其芯片功能是捏造的
之后,被上海交通大学开除。今年早些时候,另一名教授因为剽窃而被解雇。
方先生已促使至少十余名教授和博士生被开除或辞职。
他最近的一个案例发生于今年3月,中国最顶尖的大学之一清华大学医学院
院长助理刘辉被开除。方先生发现他冒用他人的论文,并捏造履历。
方先生并非唯一一个认为在中国教育系统中这类问题非常猖獗的人。
中国科学院院长路甬祥针对最近发生的事件,发表了一份措辞强烈的声明加
以谴责,他说:“要解决这个问题,需要高度重视道德教育、社会监督和科研机
构内部的制度建设。”
和其他学者和政府官员一样,路先生也担心最近一连串丑闻正在玷污中国高
等教育系统的形象。
自上个世纪90年代后期以来,中国政府已投入了数百亿元用以发展世界级大
学,并寻求加强与国外机构的联系。
同时,高层领导人也经常鼓吹中国有必要成为全球研发中心。
但是,自从2000年8月份以来已披露了500多起造假指控的方先生说,在反对
剽窃以及它所代表的更大社会问题,例如对知识产权缺乏尊重这些方面,做得很
不够。
“中国从未很认真地对待剽窃问题。中国学术界一直在说要和国际规范接轨,
但是在实际上问题仍然存在。而且学生们并没有意识到问题的严重性,他们见到
老师们都那么干,就跟着学了。”
方先生说,许多大学对此也不重视,即使在不端行为已引起他们的注意时也
是如此。
他调查的许多案例涉及到位居高位的学者,能给学校带来资金和名声,方先
生说校方宁愿对他们的不端行为熟视无睹。
他的网站在中国被屏蔽,由此可见他所指控的那些人所拥有的权力。
方先生相信需要有重大的变革。他说:“我不认为在近期内情形会有所改善,
因为这个问题牵涉到中国社会的各个方面,例如政治体制和新闻自由问题。”
(方舟子译)
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=832252006
Cheating academics ‘highlight wider social malaise’
BENJAMIN ROBERTSON IN BEIJING
The Scotsman, 6 June, 2006
WHEN Fang Shimin starts investigating your curriculum vitae it is
time
to be worried. A freelance writer by day, Mr Fang spends his free
time
digging for dirt on China’s most respected icon of culture
and
scholarship, the university professor.
Mr Fang’s consistent exposure of fraudulent academic research
has
helped send the nation’s higher education system reeling from a
series
of high-profile scandals.
Last month, Professor Chen Jin, the much-feted father of a new
breed
of microchip, was fired from his position at Shanghai’s
Jiaotong
University after it emerged evidence of much of the chip’s
supposed
abilities had been falsified. Earlier this year, another professor
was
sacked for plagiarism.
Mr Fang has contributed to the dismissal and resignation of at
least a
dozen professors and doctoral students.
His most recent case was in March, with the dismissal of Liu Hui,
the
assistant dean of Tsinghua University’s medical school - one of
the
country’s top universities. Mr Fang found he had taken credit
for
someone else’s research paper and lied about his background.
Mr Fang is not the only one who says such problems are rife within
the
educational system.
Issuing a strongly worded statement deploring recent events,
Lu
Yongxiang, the head of the prestigious Chinese Academy of
Sciences,
said: “Ethics education, checks and balances and outside
supervision
are necessary to cure the disease.”
Echoing other academics and government officials, Mr Lu
expressed
concern that the recent spate of scandals was tarnishing the image
of
China’s higher education system.
Since the late 1990s the government has poured billions of pounds
into
developing a series of world-class universities, and courted
links
with overseas institutions.
At the same time, senior leaders have regularly trumpeted the need
for
China to become a global centre of research and development.
But Mr Fang, who since August 2000 has exposed more than 500 cases
of
alleged abuse, says not enough is being done to counter the issue
of
plagiarism and the wider social issues it represents, such as the
lack
of respect for intellectual property rights.
“China has never looked at plagiarism very seriously. The
academic
circle has been talking about connecting with international
standards,
but when it comes to practice, problems still exist. And now you
have
students who don’t realise its seriousness, they see their teachers
do
the same and just follow.”
Nor, says Mr Fang, do many universities pay attention, even
when
discrepancies are brought to their attention.
Many of the cases he has investigated involve senior academics
whose
presence attracts extra funding and publicity, and Mr Fang
says
schools and universities prefer to turn a blind eye.
Symbolic of the power of those he has made accusations against,
his
website is now blocked in China.
Mr Fang believes radical action is needed. He says: “I don’t think
the
situation will improve in the near term, because this problem
concerns
all aspects of Chinese society, such as the political system and
press
freedom.”
(XYS20060607)
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