Complaint about prime minister’s dissertation forwarded to ISM University

The Lithuanian Academic Ethics and Procedures Controller’s Office has received a complaint alleging possible plagiarism in Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius’s doctoral dissertation and has forwarded it to ISM University of Management and Economics, the office’s head, Reda Cimmperman, told BNS.

“We received it and have just signed off on forwarding it to ISM University of Management and Economics. Under the Law on Science and Studies, the first step is to refer it to self-regulation, meaning the institution itself,” Cimmperman said on Thursday.

According to Cimmperman, the university will examine the complaint and inform both the complainant and the controller’s office. If the complainant disagrees with the outcome, they may resubmit the complaint to the controller’s office, which will then review it.

“The maximum time for reviewing a complaint is 270 days from receipt, but in this case, it has been forwarded to the university, and they have their own deadlines. Typically, it takes between one and three months, depending on the institution’s legal framework,” she explained.

Cimmperman noted that complaints are always first sent to the higher education institution, and only if the complainant disagrees with the findings does the controller’s office take up the case. The office receives around 20 complaints per year.

“It doesn’t necessarily end at the university. There are also legal processes that can last from one to five years,” she said.

BNS reported that questions about Sinkevičius’s doctoral dissertation have recently surfaced on social media, with the latest allegations involving possible plagiarism, including the submission of excerpts from other authors’ works under his own name.

Sinkevičius has denied the criticism, stating that he prepared the work independently. He earned a bachelor’s degree in management and business administration from Vilnius University’s Faculty of Economics in 2007, a bachelor’s degree in law from Mykolas Romeris University in 2008, a master’s degree in marketing and management from ISM University in 2009, and defended his doctoral dissertation at the same university in 2015.