The former health minister’s master’s degree was canceled due to cheating. Now Kjerkol is appealing the decision to the national appeals board.
Published: 02/05/2024 13:02
Ingvild Kjerkol had to resign as Minister of Health on 12 April. It happened after the complaints board at Nord University concluded that she had cheated on her master’s degree, on purpose. With the decision, her master’s degree was cancelled.
Now Kjerkol via her lawyer Marianne Klaussen tells NTB that she will appeal.
– The examiners made a proper assessment in 2021 and have not gone beyond the legal framework they have as professionals, writes Kjerkol’s lawyer.
– The censorship decision they made is therefore valid, and the master’s thesis should not have been cancelled, she writes further.
Kjerkol is adamant that she did not mean to cheat.
– We have not intended to plagiarize other people’s work, the tribunal has treated us like other students. It is very painful not to be believed, said Kjerkol when she left.
The decision to cancel her master’s thesis can be appealed to the national body Felles Klagenenmnd.
Kjerkol chooses to make use of this appeal option, says her lawyer Marianne Klausen.
Kjerkol delivered the master’s in question to Nord University on 30 August 2021, together with a fellow student.
At the end of January this year, VG reported that they had found parts of the text in the Minister of Health’s master’s thesis that were identical to text in other academic assignments, without it being credited.
Later, various media found several examples of text similarity. This led to the complaint board at Nord University opening a case, and investigated whether the textual similarities could be considered cheating, which they concluded that it was.
