MRU to investigate complaint over Skaistė’s dissertation

A research group will begin examining a complaint over possible academic ethics violations in the preparation of conservative MP Gintarė Skaistė’s doctoral dissertation at Mykolas Romeris University, LRT reports.

The group will start work on September 1, university communications head Karolina Markauskaitė said in a comment carried by ELTA. It will have two months from the start of its work to submit its findings.

“Until the examination of the complaint is complete, we cannot assess it,” Markauskaitė said.

The Office of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures received the complaint on August 10 and forwarded it to MRU for further examination.

The complaint raises questions about the originality of the text, discrepancies in calculations and shortcomings in the presentation of the results.

Skaistė said she would provide the university with all the necessary information to ensure that the issues raised in the complaint are assessed objectively.

Skaistė graduated from Kaunas University of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 2010. She later completed a master’s degree in economics at MRU and obtained a doctorate in social sciences.

Her dissertation, defended in 2016, was titled “A Model for Assessing the Impact of the Institutional System on Venture Capital Investments.”