Dealing with plagiarism and academic dishonesty - in particular student services shops where such illegal activities take place - requires the joint efforts of the ministries of Higher Education, Culture and Information and other authorities, according to a leading academic. Dr. Muhammad Al-Harbi, the adviser at the Ministry of Higher Education and Professor at King Saud University (KSU), said the ministry has no authority to shut down student service shops which violate intellectual property rights laws. Al-Harbi said a meeting should be set up between the ministries of culture and information and higher education, in collaboration with the region's emirates, to come up with a common way to prevent these violations. Al-Harbi also stressed the importance of coming up with a mechanism defining the tasks of these offices and to legislate severe penalties for anyone involved in such illegal activities. He said the Ministry of Higher Education has rules and regulations on the importance of professors monitoring students, especially those doing their master's and doctorate degrees. Al-Harbi said professors can use certain techniques to determine which students have been dishonest and have not prepared the work themselves. Al-Harbi said the ministry has also sent circulars to teaching staff at universities not to burden students with research that exceeds their academic standards and abilities, so that they do not resort to illegal practices. He stressed that students should realize that plagiarism contravenes the Islamic Shariah and intellectual property rights. This eventually affects students morally and academically and harms the future of the country. Al-Harbi admitted that some teachers conclude under-the-table deals with the owners of these service shops, to sell notes and research to students. He said this situation has not yet reached epidemic proportions. Most members of the staff of universities are honest and trustworthy, he added. He said that in the few cases uncovered by the authorities, harsh action was taken to punish violators and deprive them of promotion. In cases where there is ample evidence that a researcher bought the research for promotion or for the purpose of higher studies, that person will be dismissed, said Al
