Universities are not enthusiastic about the Ministry of Education and Culture’s offer to introduce an education and science ethics ombudsman

The Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) proposes to introduce an ombudsman for education and science ethics, but representatives of higher education institutions initially evaluate such an idea rather negatively, it was said in the discussion “Academic ethics in higher education” on Friday.

The ombudsman would examine complaints and, on his own initiative, conduct an investigation into possible violations of ethics and arto-related regulatory acts in educational institutions, including scientific institutions.

According to the proposal of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the ombudsman could request the university to cancel the decision on issuing a diploma and awarding an academic, professional or scientific doctoral degree in connection with established violations of academic or scientific ethics. Diāna Laipniece, director of the Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Ministry of Education and Culture, said that there were “controversial issues” and that the ombudsman would play a valuable role in these discussions.

If signs of a criminal offense are detected, the ombudsman would contact the law enforcement authorities. On the other hand, upon finding a violation of ethics or procedures related to ethics rules, the educational institution should inform the ombudsman about the actions taken to prevent the violation.

The ombudsman would also provide recommendations to educational institutions to improve procedures related to ethical events. The educational institution will be obliged to implement the recommendations.

The Ombudsman will be appointed by the Saeima for a five-year term on the recommendation of the government. The same person could be the educational ethics ombudsman for a maximum of two consecutive terms.

To ensure the activities of the ombudsman, the Ministry of Education and Culture proposes to establish the office of the ombudsman for education and scientific ethics. It would be financed from the state budget. The operation of the office will be regulated by the law and by-laws of the office, which would be adopted by the ombudsman and approved by the Minister of Education and Science.

The Ombudsman could start his work in 2025. Laipniece informed that the ministry has started work on the draft law amending the Higher Education Law. The bill could be submitted for public discussion until June 10.

Jānis Paiders, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Culture for human capital, science and innovation development issues, emphasized that the introduction of the ombudsman will not deprive universities of their competence to deal with ethical issues. The ombudsman would deal with cases where the university has limited possibilities for solving them or wants to receive external experience.

The higher education institutions got acquainted with the proposal of the Ministry of Education and Culture during the discussion, and their representatives evaluated the idea rather negatively. Supreme Court (AT) judge Sanita Osipova said that the introduction of the ombudsman “raises the formalization of ethical norms to an even higher level, and it is no longer ethics”, but “entering the field of law”.

Jānis Bernāts, Secretary General of the Council of Rectors, expressed his concern that the introduction of the ombudsman will reduce the autonomy of universities.

“Employing or dismissing staff is one element of the university’s autonomy. Therefore, this will be another tool that will reduce the autonomy of universities, because in fact it will be a binding decision – to dismiss or not to dismiss [darbinieku]to receive a diploma or not,” says Bernats.

According to him, university ethics commissions should be strengthened instead of the ombudsman, especially in small universities, where the number of complaints received is much smaller.

LU’s emeritus professor Skaidrīte Lasmane is also confused as to why a new institution should be established. “Ethics, however, is not an ordinary, legal, bureaucratically organized and regulated matter. [..] If ethics has no boundaries, then the state bureaucracy must have boundaries,” said Lasmane. In her opinion, public understanding should be promoted through conversations about compliance with ethical norms.

The Latvian Student Union (LSA) evaluates the Ministry of Education and Culture initiative more positively, but “the devil is in the details”. The head of LSA’s Academic Direction, Rudolph Aleksandrs Strod, sees that the ombudsman would be another, independent place to turn to if there is no security about the university’s internal system or if it is not considered that the achieved result is just or fair. At the same time, in his opinion, a discussion is needed on the direct functions and powers of the ombudsman.

Opening the discussion, the Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša (JV) emphasized that it is necessary to restore public trust in the academic environment as a safe and transparent environment. According to her, possible solutions should be found “with good communication” and not by moving in the direction of control.

Violations of academic ethics, including the issue of sexual harassment in higher education, became relevant after it was revealed that the Jāzeps Vītolas Academy of Music of Latvia (JVLMA) received applications from several students about possible sexual harassment by lecturers. Similar concerns have been publicly expressed about a teacher of the Academy of Arts.

Several universities previously claimed to the LETA agency that they had received neither official nor unofficial information about possible ethical violations. However, Chaksha pointed out that the absence of reports does not always mean that everything is fine – the reasons for not reporting may be related to fear or mistrust.

The Ministry of Education and Culture has concluded that most universities have their own code of ethics, but not all of them have it publicly available on their websites. Daugavpils University and Latvian University of Biosciences and Technologies have not developed their own code of ethics.

Čakša singled out Riga Stradins University as a good example, which in its code of ethics has paid “targeted attention” to building relationships in the academic environment. The other universities are more focused on issues related to academic integrity.