Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures of the Republic of Lithuania
Curriculum Vitae Ombudsperson agendaRegulations of the Office of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures of the Republic of Lithuania (valid from 1 May 2022)
Handling Complaints and Investigations
In fulfilling the assigned tasks, the Office of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures shall consider complaints of the applicants upon assignment of the Ombudsperson and, at the Ombudsperson’s initiative, carry out investigations into the actions (acts or omissions) of the members of the academic community which constitute a possible violation of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, including complaints regarding the abuse by heads of research and higher education institutions and heads of divisions in the field of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics.
(Regulations of the Office of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures of the Republic of Lithuania, paragraph 12 subparagraph 1)
Prevention
Tasks of the Ombudsperson are the following:
Contributing to the quality of higher education and research by nurturing the universally recognised values in this field, principles and research practices ensuring the dissemination of research and science (art), transparency of higher education and related activities, fairness, justice, responsibility, equality of persons being members of the academic community, their non-discrimination, academic freedom, trust and respect;
Drawing up guidelines, recommendations and other documents for research and higher education institutions on the development, implementation and improvement of codes of academic ethics and other measures promoting academic ethics;
Making proposals to the Seimas, the Government and other competent authorities of the Republic of Lithuania regarding the measures to promote and/or to ensure compliance with academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics in the academic community;
Establishing the good practices of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics in research activities, dissemination of science (art), in higher education and activities related to higher education, and supervise compliance therewith;
Promoting and supporting, in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts, activities (initiatives) of natural and legal persons and society that contribute to the implementation of measures, based on the principles of academic ethics, for promoting and ensuring the quality of higher education and research;
Collecting, storing and summarising the information on violations of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics known to the Ombudsperson, cases of imposition of administrative liability, and other data related to compliance with academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics in Lithuania;
Collect, analyse and summarize the data on violations of academic ethics and procedures, violations of the Law on Higher Education and Research or statutes and codes of academic ethics of research and higher education institutions, applied cases of administrative liability as well as other information related to the compliance with academic ethics and procedures in Lithuania known to the Ombudsperson.
(Regulations of the Office of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures of the Republic of Lithuania, paragraph 11 subparagraph 6, paragraph 12 subparagraphs 2–4 and 6–7)
Consulting
The Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures provides consultancy to research and higher education institutions, members of academic community and other persons within its competence.
(Law on Public Administration, art. 7 paragraph 1 point 2)
Updated: 19 December 2023