Corrupt academics

About 100 teaching staff at German universities are under investigation by prosecutors for allegedly taking bribes from self-styled PhD counselling services in return for accepting PhD students not up to the job. The president of Germany's University Rectors Conference, Professor Margret Wintermantel said in an interview with Deutsche Welle that corrupt acadmics have no place in the profession. But insists that the problem lies with individuals, insisting that the German system of higher education is safe and sound.

DW: Professor Wintermantel, when have PhD counselling services contacted you the last time?

Margret Wintermantel: Never actually. Neither have colleagues that I know personally. None of them has ever mentioned to me anything of the sort.

What is it that is questionable or even illegal about PhD counselling agencies?

I think it is very important that a student who wants to get a PhD has to deliver their own unique contribution to research. If students, using these services, cannot show that it is their own contribution with their own piece of research, then we have a problem.

If students have used those services to get a supervisor, but have otherwise put together their work all by themselves, would they still have to worry about losing their PhDs?

No, they should not worry about that. Again, if they can show that they have carried out their own research then they should not worry about that. At most universities students have to include a sworn declaration that what they are presenting is exclusively their own work unless stated otherwise. The requirement to include this declaration is now standard in exam regulations at most German universities. This is in fact also the result of a recommendation we made back in 1994.

Prosecutors in Cologne are investigating close to a hundred professors at German universities, and one PhD counselling agency has essentially been shut down. But there are many more out there. One might be inclined to think this is just the tip of the iceberg…

… No, I don't think so. And I want to be perfectly clear - I don't think so at all. There are a lot of procedures of quality assurance in the universities, especially when it comes to the question of unique contributions to research. German universities have precise admissions regulations for PhD candidates throughout, there is continuous supervision of PhD students. And of course we should not forget that PhD theses get published and are being made accessible to the scientific community where they are and remain subject to intense scientific scrutiny. So, I think, there is no iceberg.

Yes, there are some people who jump red lights and then this is a case for the authorities. But by far most of the PhD students do good work and their professors do good work in showing them how to do good research. We have a problem with a few people, but it is not a problem of the system.

Most of the faculty members now under investigation are contract staff and associate professors, less so full university professors. Is this also a reflection of the precarious financial situation that many teachers find themselves in who are not fully part of the university hierarchy?

No. Our position is that a PhD student should be supervised by a full university professor. Associate professors should not have a central role here. Contract professors are entitled to supervise students and that is perfectly ok. But to say 'I take bribes because I earn so little' is totally unacceptable.

Is there a danger that the scandal could undermine the reputation of Germany's higher education system abroad and that in future fewer international students would chose to go for German universities?

If we insist on blowing this out of proportion - maybe. [At present] however our system of higher education, our PhDs, our degrees all do enjoy world wide recognition.

Interview: Ranty Islam

Editor: Trinity Hartman