The graduation process of Glas will be investigated

Jorge Glas

Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (ESPOL), appointed a commission to analyse the process of graduation of the engineers Jorge Glas Espinel and Luis Gomez Calle, in order to confirm if, indeed, they were graduates of their career when they started the process to earn the degree. This means that if they completed the requirements and passed the entire academic program of the career in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FIEC).

The students, at the time, had to complete the program, and the Commission will verify when they returned to the entity to carry out their thesis, if they could still choose the same modality, this is the technical report that was in force after graduating in 1996, but later was suppressed by the institution. This leads to another point that the commission must establish: whether the mode of graduation, which was decided at that time, provided and if indeed fulfilled all procedures.

The commission that will investigate Glas thesis

The commission must rebuild the entire process and not just review the thesis, the document that has been questioned for having allegedly plagiarized content of the Internet portal (www.rincondelvago.com) without indicating its source. Obviously it must be determined whether the ESPOL followed up the standards and formats established in the academic work. To do so the commission will use the official thesis handbook of the ESPOL, which consists of 30 points, from the structure and organization of the work to  the details of how it should be written.

Then the committee will interview the authors, the tutor, the people who are listed as collaborators or those consulted (fellow teachers). After conducting this research process, it will deliver a report to the Polytechnic Council to adopt a decision under Article 207 of the Higher Education Act, which refers to the sanctions to students, teachers or university employees.

The Polytechnic Council appointed the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Gaudencio Zurita, the dean of the FIEC, Miguel Yapur, and the teacher and communications expert Cesar Yepez to integrate the commission. It was formed after searching people known for their thoroughness and academic level, as well for their respectability within and outside the institution. After being appointed, the group agreed to meet once a week and has already begun to request documents from the case. However, it is unknown whether they will give their report before or after the presidential elections on February 17.