THE sixth and possibly last year of Professor Cheng Yiu-chung's time at the helm of City University has been marred by two embarrassing inquiries into plagiarism by its academics.
In January, the Post revealed that Professor Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, formerly Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, had copied from Norman Miners, then a professor at the University of Hong Kong, for his own publication, a textbook on government and public affairs.
The vice-chancellor said the case was 'no big deal', as it concerned a textbook and not a research paper.
He later said reproducing others' work without acknowledgment was not correct and his earlier comment was made on the basis that there was a difference in the level of seriousness between a textbooks and research.
Professor Joseph Cheng was later stripped of his deanship and administrative duties, but retained his academic position. In March, Dr Alex Kwan Yui-huen, a reader in the Department of Applied Social Studies, admitted that he had copied material from a book for use in one of his own works in 1986. An inquiry has been launched.
Professor Cheng Yiu-chung, 56, has overseen the inquiries into both cases.