The desired sensation did not happen and so an interest has been aroused in getting to my diploma thesis with one sole intention - to manipulate it, Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) said on Thursday in connection with the questioning of his Doctor of Law degree by some media.
The independent Denník N daily brought an article claiming that Andrej Danko was keeping how he acquired his JUDr. title a secret. On Monday, the Parliamentary Chairman stated that he had received his Doctor of Law degree legally and that he views the Denník N article as nothing but an effort to damage his reputation. He suspects that the media attacks might be a response to his potential presidential bid.
Last week, the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica adopted a measure ensuring that only authorized persons have access to the Parliamentary Chairman's doctoral thesis. The measure was taken several days after the independent Denník N started searching for it.
According to opposition party Freedom and solidarity, Sloboda a Solidarita, Danko's concealing his rigorous thesis is discreditable and not normal. The Opposition Ordinary People (OLaNO) party has called on Danko to dispel the suspicions, publish his "rigorous thesis" and disclose the name of the institution at which he obtained his degree without delay.
Comenius University's Dean of the Law Faculty Eduard Burda confirmed to the TASR press agency on Wednesday that Incumbent Parliamentary Chair Andrej Danko had completed his studies at the Law Faculty of Comenius University in 1997 by acquiring his master's (magister) degree after meeting all the legal requirements and norms as well as internal faculty directives. "There's no legal profession that could be practiced only with the Doctor of Law degree (JUDr.) and not with a Master (Mgr.) title. The authorisation to carry out a lawyer's profession stems from the master's degree and not the doctoral title in the discipline of law," explained the Dean. Burda also added that in the late 1990s, a diploma thesis was not a prerequisite for the successful completion of studies in the master's programme and studies were not split into bachelor's and higher-level master's levels.
According to the Vice Chancellor of the Slovak Technical University, Robert Redhammer, all students' works should be accessible by the public and should include the name of the supervisor, who is in a way its co-author and is responsible for the quality of the particular work.
