Delhi University strategic plan found plagiarised, withdrawn

On Wednesday, Delhi University's academic council convened to discuss the university's strategic plan for the next 25 years. This 52-page document, however, was peppered with instances of plagiarism from similar documents of other universities across the world, prompting vehement opposition from council members and forcing the blueprint to be sent back to a committee to revise it.

- Ashna Butani

The university's registrar, Vikas Gupta, confirmed the document had been withdrawn to be reworked by the committee that drafted it and added that plagiarism was limited to 8% of the document.

"According to the committee's members, only 8 percent of the document was plagiarised. However, we will send the document back to the committee and they will revise it," Gupta said.

A statement from the Vice-Chancellor's office stated that the V-C will take the considerations flagged by the members. "The Vice-Chancellor said that linguists and editors will also be included in the committee to look into the linguistic nuances of the draft," said the statement.

The committee's chairperson did not respond to requests for a comment.

The allegations of plagiarism are not the first time the Strategic Plan for Delhi University (2022-2047) has been criticised. It was presented before the executive council in June for approval but was sent back for revisions after some academics slammed it as a "clear blueprint for privatisation and contractualisation".