Editor,

Reference is made to the letter, "Govt, not universities will put plagiarism into check” (The New Times, June 9). I totally disagree with Abdou. It is not the job of the Ministry of Education to run the day-to-day affairs of universities. University authorities should find solutions to most issues and only seek help from the ministry on issues beyond their control, and these should be very difficult ones.

I don’t believe that plagiarism is such a difficult thing that an experienced professor cannot easily detect even without modern software.

Universities have been in existence much longer than plagiarism detection software. In fact, such software was invented only recently. Plagiarism exists everywhere but on a very small or insignificant scale. But when it becomes rampant, it is due to lack of measures to prevent or detect it.

Make no mistake, Rwandan students who resort to plagiarism understand well the system and are sure, at list until now, that there is little chance of being caught. You can, therefore, fault university authority for failing to set up plagiarism detecting software and the dons for failing to use their skills to catch cheaters without relying on modern technology.

Armstrong