The Handling of"Problematic Theses":An Examination and Reflection on the Thesis Random Inspection
The degree thesis random inspection system is composed of regulations at three levels:national,provincial administrative regulations,and university-specific rules established by the institutions themselves.These regulations stipulate the handling rules for"problematic academic theses."There is a clear difference between the handling rules set by administrative regulations and those set by universities through their internal regulations.The former mainly holds the degree-awarding institution responsibility,while the latter shifts the overall responsibility to the"directly responsible persons"—the supervisors and thesis authors—and includes consequences such as the revocation of degrees.Some university regulations inappropriately link"problematic academic theses"with degree revocation,which insufficiently protects the rights of degree recipients,does not align with the principle of fair attribution of responsibility,and clearly violates the legislative intent of the Degree Law,which strictly limits the power to revoke degrees,thus facing a legitimacy crisis.Furthermore,shifting overall responsibility to individual responsibility replaces the original goal of the inspection system,which is to"promote improvement through evaluation,"and hinders the effective implementation of the policy.Under the principle of functional appropriateness,the handling of"problematic academic theses"should balance national supervision of degree-awarding quality,university autonomy,and the protection of student rights,thereby ensuring the supervisory function of the thesis inspection system aligns with its intended purpose.The handling rules should differentiate between administrative regulations,which serve as a basis for administrative supervision,and university regulations,which function as academic governance mechanisms.For administrative regulations,the handling rules should adhere to the boundaries of administrative supervision,treating"problematic academic theses"as an indicator for macro-control of degree-awarding quality,enhancing the coordination of different supervisory methods,and improving the inspection system from three aspects:the method of result disclosure,determination of inspection scope,and the handling appeal mechanism.For university regulations,the handling rules should categorize"problematic academic theses"to avoid inappropriate links with degree revocation.Universities should have a high degree of autonomy in dealing with measures involving internal academic governance.However,once actions exceed the internal order of the university,explicit legal authorization is required.
problematic thesesthesis random inspectiondegree lawdegree revocation
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