Metsola’s Degree Still Stands: ‘Elements Of Plagiarism’ Found In Dissertation, But Not Grounds for Invalidation
After coming under fire from a “plagiarism hunter” who unearthed EP President Roberta Metsola’s LL.D. dissertation from 2003, the University of Malta has reviewed the document and ruled that her degree remains valid.
The University Senate’s review found that the dissertation contains “elements of plagiarism/uncredited or improperly-cited material which constitute serious imperfections in the work”.
The nature of these imperfections stemmed from a failure to cite primary sources, citing incorrect sources, “patchwork” (information copied from other writers and rearranged without proper citation) and “cut and paste” passages.
These appeared to result from mistaken procedure. While they reduce the worth of the dissertation, a statement by the University said, they do not invalidate it entirely.
Therefore, the LL.D. awarded to Roberta Metsola 22 years ago remains valid, and her initial grade – which was given after she defended her dissertation before an academic panel in 2003 – remains unchanged.
Reacting to the news, Metsola stated that she is “pleased that this process is over” and that her degree still stands.
“Re-reading her dissertation with the benefit of 22 years of experience, there are naturally a number of improvements the President would now suggest to her younger self to avoid some unintentional citation errors, particularly with regards to the method of referencing used and the use of secondary sources (as opposed to original sources) – a feeling she suspects many other graduates would feel if they re-examined their work, especially more than two decades after submitting it,” a statement released by her team reads.
“The standards, teaching, requirements and tools made available to students 22 years ago are very different from today, and any errors in the referencing in the dissertation were unintentional.”
Metsola reiterated her rejection of the “unfounded and ill-motivated” allegations of any intentional wrongdoing or misconduct.
“These allegations were never about the defence of academic integrity but were an attempt by the President’s political opponents to damage her reputation and that of the institution she was elected to lead,” the statement continues.
Importantly, the University Senate also found that Metsola did not misuse her “Doctor” title, as she was awarded the professional title of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.); a legacy degree classified at Level 7 of the Malta/European Qualifications Framework. This has since been replaced by the Master in Advocacy, also classified at MQF/EQF Level 7.
Part of the controversy stemmed from a misunderstanding of Metsola’s dissertation, which was incorrectly referred to by Bild as a “doctoral thesis”. Metsola’s spokesperson clarified that she does not hold a doctorate, which surprised the German newspaper and led critics to believe she was improperly using the professional title.
However, this ultimately boiled down to a difference in education systems: in Malta, a lawyer can be granted the “Doctor” title without completing a PhD, which requires extensive personal and original research.
Metsola’s statement concluded by affirming that her focus remains on the future and that people across Malta and Gozo would prefer to discuss and debate her current actions and positions rather than her writings as a young student growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s.
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