Integrity of university professors.

(From The Korea Herald)

By Chung Yeon-ho British university professors are often praised for their professionalism and dedication. Whenever they deal with university academic processes, they never attempt to undermine their scholastic conscience but strive to remain ethically sound in all affairs. This statement may sound odd, because not only British university professors, but indeed all university professors in any country, are expected to behave in an academically sound manner. However, I think that British university professors are more careful and discreet in dealing with certain academic processes than professors in other countries.

During my doctoral course in England from 1992 to 1996, I witnessed an extraordinary academic process that would have been virtually unthinkable from a Korean professor's point of view. A diligent, hard- working postgraduate student from Greece, who had studied toward a Ph.D. degree for seven years, had arranged to have the oral examination for his thesis from his internal and external examiners. Unfortunately, the oral examiners decided that he could not be awarded the degree, due to the lack of a clear rationale for the approach adopted in the thesis and the subsequent need for major revision.

Although we had studied together in the same department, I was neither familiar with his research interests nor aware as to how he had conducted his thesis defense in the oral examination. Yet regardless of how he had defended it, I was shocked at the examiners' rejection of a Ph.D. degree to an overseas student who had strived for seven years to complete his thesis. Even if a number of his assertions or approaches needed modifying, the examiners' decision still seemed excessively harsh and even irresponsible. Undoubtedly, the student made several appeals to the Senate House for the reconsideration of their decision, but without any success.

This case exemplifies the integrity of British university professors. Although some people may partly apportion blame to the student's ...