Education Minister Oksen Lisovyy wrote on Facebook that he had submitted his dissertation to the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance for review.
"I am looking forward to the results as much as everybody else. And, as I have already said, if any violations of the new culture of academic integrity (to the formation of which I will pay special attention) are found, I will renounce my PhD degree. As soon as I receive the conclusion, I will make it public," he wrote.
"I am definitely not going to stick to any titles. I came to the ministry not for this but to implement reforms and work for global-level high-quality education. Academic degrees and the corresponding allowances are necessary for people engaged in science, not other areas of activity," the minister added.
Lisovyy also said that he had submitted to the government proposals for changes to the regulatory framework that would allow any citizen, official, or politician to voluntarily give up their academic degree and (accordingly) all allowances. The state will be able to use the saved funds for the development of science, defence or reconstruction.
Lisovyy defended his philosophy thesis in April 2012. It contained coincidences with the works of Y. Arabchuk and A. Zuyev, and the Minister of Education did not include a reference to Arabchuk's work in the list of references. In addition, the thesis contained many substitutions of Ukrainian "i" with English "i", which is a standard way to deceive plagiarism detection software.