Former German Education Minister Anette Schavan, attends a session in the German parliament in Berlin, Thursday March 20, 2014. The former German minister who quit over plagiarism allegations has failed in a bid to have a court reverse the withdrawal of her doctorate.Annette Schavan, considered a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, was Germany’s education minister for more than seven years until she resigned in Feb. 2013. She stepped down after an academic panel at Duesseldorf's Heinrich Heine University voted to revoke her doctorate. An administrative court in Duesseldorf on Thursday upheld that decision. (AP Photo/dpa, Maurizio Gambarini) (The Associated Press)
BERLIN – A former education minister in Germany who resigned over plagiarism allegations has lost a legal bid to have her doctorate restored.
Annette Schavan, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, quit in February 2013 after an academic panel at Heinrich Heine University in Duesseldorf reviewed her 1980 doctoral thesis, discovered uncredited passages from others' work throughout her paper, and revoked her degree.
A Duesseldorf administrative court upheld that decision Thursday. Schavan said she would read the full judgment before deciding whether to appeal it.
"I once again reject strongly the accusation of deception," the 58-year-old said in a statement.
Merkel's government plans to make Schavan, a reform-minded Roman Catholic, Germany's next ambassador to the Vatican.
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