Norwegian Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol quit her job Friday morning after her master’s thesis was revoked for plagiarism Thursday.
“To continue as health minister I have to be a trusted person. I will resign from this fantastic job,” Kjerkhol, from the Labor Party, told reporters at a press conference Friday.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it would have been hard to continue in the job and that he had “decided that Kjerkol should resign from the position,” according to Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
Accusations of plagiarism against Kjerkol first surfaced at the end of January. Rather than quit immediately, Kjerkol chose to await the judgment by Nord University, which said it would take a second look at her 2021 thesis in health governance.
The pressure mounted Thursday when it was leaked to the Norwegian press that a panel reviewing Kjerkol’s thesis had revoked it for plagiarism.
Kjerkol is the second Norwegian minister to quit this year after facing accusations of plagiarism in their academic work.
In January, Sandra Borch of the Agrarian Party stepped down as minister of higher education after a student revealed on social media that she had copied large parts of her master’s thesis in law.
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