Academic ethics office receives complaint over Skaistė’s dissertation

The Office of the Academic Ethics and Procedures Ombudsperson has received a complaint over possible academic ethics violations in the preparation of conservative politician Gintarė Skaistė’s doctoral dissertation at Mykolas Romeris University, LRT reported.

The office confirmed the complaint to ELTA on Wednesday. It was received on August 10 and raises questions about the originality of the text, discrepancies in calculations and shortcomings in the presentation of results.

The complaint has been referred to Mykolas Romeris University for further examination under the institution’s self-regulation procedures, the office said. Such a decision is made when the institution has not previously been asked to examine the same possible academic ethics or procedural violations.

Under the self-regulation principle, universities and other higher education institutions first examine alleged academic ethics violations themselves, following their internal rules, and make the relevant decisions. After reviewing the complaint, Mykolas Romeris University must inform the office of its decision.

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 and obtained a doctorate in social sciences at Mykolas Romeris University.

Her dissertation was titled “An evaluation model of the impact of the institutional system on venture capital investments.”