Sandra Konstance Nygård Borch (born 23 April 1988) is a Norwegian politician who served as the minister of research and higher education from 2023 to 2024 until her resignation over the extensive plagiarism in her master's thesis.
As minister, she had launched a crackdown on students' reuse of their own texts, so-called "self-plagiarism," leading to criticism from many academics who argued that reuse of one's own work is not plagiarism or research misconduct. She previously served as minister of agriculture and food from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Centre Party, she served as the leader of the Centre Youth from 2011 to 2013, while simultaneously serving as a deputy MP from her home constituency of Troms from 2009 to 2013. She was elected a permanent representative in 2017.
In January 2024, it was revealed that significant parts of her master's thesis are plagiarised. She announced her resignation in the evening of 19 January 2024. In March 2024, she lost her degree from the University of Tromsø.
In January 2026, Borch was charged with two counts of driving under the influence in October 2025, with BAC levels of 0,64‰ and 1,56‰ – the legal limit being 0,2‰ in Norway. In February 2026, Borch was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of 30 days, a fine of 100.000 NOK and lost her driving licence for three years.
Borch grew up on a sheep farm in Lavangen in Troms.
Borch is born with achondroplasia, a common form of short stature. Because of this, she experienced a lot of bullying and hardship. Borch has stated that she has learned to live with the incitements by ignoring it and concentrating on her life and work duties.
She graduated from Sjøvegan high school in 2007 and received a Master of Jurisprudence from the University of Tromsø in 2014, which she lost in 2024 due to it being revealed that significant parts of her master's thesis had been plagiarised. She received the grade D in the ECTS grading scale.
Borch is a native Norwegian speaker, and has said that she has some Sámi ancestry. In 2013, she registered for the Sámi Parliament electoral roll. In 2024, her registration was criticized as inauthentic, in connection with an investigation into "pseudo-Sámi" by the parliament.
Borch was elected a deputy member from Troms for the Centre Party in 2009, and later an ordinary member to the Storting for the period 2017–2021. In the Storting, she was a member of the Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment from 2017 to 2021. She was re-elected to the Storting for the period 2021–2025. While being a member of the Støre cabinet between 2021 and 2024, Ivar B. Prestbakmo met in her place.
Following her departure as minister, she joined the Standing Committee on Justice.
She had sought re-election at the 2025 election, but ultimately lost her seat.
Following Ola Borten Moe's resignation, Borch was floated by the Troms and Nordland branches as a candidate to replace him as deputy leader of the party.
She was leader of the Troms branch of the Centre Youth from 2007 to 2009, before she became a member of the Centre Youth's central board. She then served as the international relations leader from 2009 to 2010, and organisational deputy leader from 2010 to 2011.
In November 2011, she was elected the new leader of the Centre Youth with 85 votes against her opponent Lars Vangen's 80.
In October 2012, the Centre Youth asked in a letter to the Centre Party's central board that the party should challenge the leadership style of Liv Signe Navarsete after she had become loudly angry at Borch. The background was that Borch had the same day opened for Ola Borten Moe as a possible future leader of the Centre Party. After a debate at a central board meeting five days later, and an unreserved apology from Navarsete, Borch expressed that she had full confidence in her.
As leader of the Centre Youth, Borch opened up for a new debate and oil extraction in Lofoten and Vesterålen. The proposal was however voted down at the Centre Youth's congress in November 2012.
Borch notably took a stand against cyber bullying after she experienced it herself surrounding her height. In a blog post, she expressed disgust with anonymous bullies and called them cowards. She further expressed that cyber bullying had become a big and widespread problem in society, and called for it to be put on the agenda.
In September 2013, Borch announced that she would not seek re-election as leader, despite having previously indicated that she wanted to. She cited her reason being that she disagreed with the mother party's business policies. In November, she was succeeded by Erling Laugsand.