New | Star academic at Fudan University accused of stealing design
Fudan University stands by professor accused by ex-student of copying foreign hearing aid before winning seat on prestigious academy
Shanghai's Fudan University, one of China's oldest and most respected places of higher learning, is standing by one of its professors who has been accused by a former student of copying foreign technology for a hearing aid.
Professor Wang Zhengmin has been under fire for more than a year over a former student's claims that he copied Australian technology in designing an artificial cochlea in 2003.
The device received a domestic patent and provided a reputation boost for the professor, who two years later was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). A Fudan University investigation last year cleared him of wrongdoing.
But the university has been placed back on the defensive after China Central Television reported on Tuesday that four CAS members have asked for the academy to review documents Wang provided to support his recommendation.
The former student who accused the professor, Wang Yucheng, claims that 57 of 271 papers that Wang Zhengmin submitted to the academy as part of the election process were problematic.
"He is desperate to keep a lid on his … behaviour, but I won't let him succeed," Wang Yucheng, 45, told the South China Morning Post. The former student said he had submitted reports backing his claims to Fudan University authorities early last year.
In September, the university published a report after conducting an academic investigation clearing the professor of plagiarism in the hearing aid design. But it urged him to improve the standard of his academic papers.