The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU) has dropped the plagiarism procedure against Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP). The results showed no intent to mislead, it said. Karner had submitted his dissertation in 1995, after accusations came from the “plagiarism hunter” Stefan Weber.
Weber had published pages and pages of plagiarism and an almost completely copied theory section. Representatives from the Vienna University of Economics and Business then commissioned experts on Karner’s senior thesis to write an expert opinion. “Based on the results that have now been sent (…), the decision has been taken to stop the procedure,” the broadcast said on Thursday. Intentions to deceive, which would have led to the loss of the academic degree, could not be proven.
Karner’s dissertation is entitled “Decision-making or decision-making behavior when choosing the special courses in business administration at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.” The politician had rejected the allegations from the start, insisting that his dissertation was “in accordance with good scientific practice and to the best of my knowledge and belief”.
Not an isolated case
Weber had accused him, among other things, of having copied from Alfred Kuß’s work “Information and Purchase Decision”, but of not reporting it “or insufficiently”. In addition, he saw strong indications that the first 30 pages were also an “amalgam of uncited or insufficiently quoted foreign texts”.
Weber has repeatedly accused politicians of plagiarizing their academic theses. In some cases academic degrees were even withdrawn, for example from the then Economic Provincial Councilor Christian Buchmann (ÖVP) of the University of Graz. In 2021, then Minister of Labor Christine Aschbacher (ÖVP) announced her resignation after Weber accused her of plagiarism in her dissertation submitted in Bratislava in 2020 and her senior thesis at Wiener Neustadt University of Applied Sciences. After an investigation, the FH decided not to revoke the title and Aschbacher should ultimately keep the title she acquired in Slovakia.
In January 2022, Weber targeted Justice Minister Alma Zadic’s (Greens) dissertation for alleged quality defects, and the University of Vienna dropped the proceedings. Most recently, Weber discovered plagiarism in the diploma and dissertation of simulation researcher Niki Popper. The procedure at the Vienna University of Technology is still ongoing.
Source: Krone
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