The Ferenc Gyurcsány plagiarism controversy refers to the allegations of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

concerning the 1984 college thesis of

Ferenc Gyurcsány Ferenc Gyurcsány (; born 4 June 1961) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009. Prior to that, he held the position of Government of Hungary, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sp ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

between 2004 and 2009, that broke in spring 2012, after the resignation of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Pál Schmitt Pál Schmitt (; born 1942) is a Hungarian Olympic fencer and politician who served as President of Hungary from 2010 until his resignation in 2012, following his academic misconduct controversy. Schmitt was a successful fencer in his ...

as the result of the

Pál Schmitt academic misconduct controversy The Pál Schmitt academic misconduct scandal refers to allegations of plagiarism concerning the 1992 doctoral thesis and the circumstances of the doctoral defence of the President of Hungary Pál Schmitt, which led to Schmitt's resignation from hi ...

. Gyurcsány graduated from the Teacher's Training Faculty of the Janus Pannonius University, now

University of Pécs The University of Pécs ( , PTE; ) is one of the largest higher education institutions in Hungary. The history of the university began in the Middle Ages, when in 1367, at the request of Louis I of Hungary, King Louis I the Great, Pope Urban V gr ...

, in 1984, as an elementary school teacher of biology and technology, with a 35-page college thesis entitled "A Balaton-felvidék szőlészete és borászata" (The

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

and

oenology Oenology (also enology; ) is the science and study of wine and winemaking. Oenology is distinct from viticulture, which is the science of the growing, cultivation, and harvesting of grapes. The English word oenology derives from the Greek word ' ...

of the Balaton-highlands). In an article published on 2 April 2012, ''Pécsi Újság'' called into question whether Gyurcsány submitted a diploma thesis at all. István Geresdi,

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

of the Faculty of Sciences at the

told ''Pécsi Újság'' that they were unable to find Gyurcsány's diploma thesis. He further added that Gyurcsány's thesis was the only missing work from that time period. On 3 April, Gyurcsány published a page from his course record book that stated that he submitted and defended a college thesis. He also stated that he did not know where his own copy of his thesis was, but he would make efforts to locate and publish it. After two weeks, on 13 April he announced that he failed to find his copy of the thesis. On 27 April, ''

Hír TV Hír TV is a Hungarian television news channel, the first of such made in the country. It began broadcasting on 2 January 2003. History Initial years On 26 November 2002, the TV channel was registered using 20 million Hungarian forints (~64 ...

'', a government-leaning television channel (owned by members of the Fidesz party, that of which the aforementioned president, Pál Schmitt, resigned), announced that they have found evidence that Szabolcs Rozs, who was Gyurcsány's brother-in-law in 1984, submitted a college thesis at the same college and department as Gyurcsány, with a title identical to Gyurcsány's work, in 1980. Three days later, on 30 April ''Hír Tv'' announced that they have located and compared the reviews of both works, and found that based on the common errors and omissions, Gyurcsány's thesis is likely to be identical to the first half of Rozs's, supporting the allegations of plagiarism. The original works, however, were not compared. Hir TV has, as of 4 May 2012, not made any of the materials cited available to other media outlets for analysis. Gyurcsány has filed a criminal complaint for the apparent theft of his thesis from the university, believed now to have occurred sometime during the coverage of the Pál Schmitt controversy in the media.

References

Plagiarism controversies Political scandals in Hungary 2012 in Hungary plagiarism controversy {{Hungary-gov-stub