Complaints & Appeals

Complaints

Higher education institutions have the right to submit a formal request to the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education (hereinafter referred to as "the Centre") to replace a member of the expert panel assigned to conduct an evaluation. Such a request must be based on substantiated concerns regarding the expert’s competence, impartiality, or ability to objectively fulfil their duties. The request must be accompanied by supporting arguments and evidence, such as:

• Failure to declare a conflict of interest due to kinship;
• Publicly expressed negative opinions about the institution under evaluation;
• Past employment conflicts with the institution;
• Previous involvement in the activities of the institution being assessed.

All requests are reviewed by a dedicated panel established by the Centre. Based on their assessment, the panel may propose one of the following actions to the Director of the Centre:

• Remove and replace the expert with another specialist;
• Exclude the expert from certain parts of the evaluation process;
• Reject the institution’s request.

The higher education institution will be informed in writing of the decision within 20 working days.

Additionally, feedback is systematically collected from higher education institutions regarding the performance of the expert panel, the evaluation coordinator, and the overall organization of the evaluation process. Institutions may submit complaints about the quality of the Centre’s work or provide suggestions for improvement. All such submissions are carefully analysed, and corrective measures are implemented where necessary.

Appeals

Higher education institutions may submit a reasoned appeal to the Appeals Commission of the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education (hereinafter referred to as "the Appeals Commission") within 10 working days of receiving the Centre’s decision on an external evaluation of a higher education institution.

The Appeals Commission does not re-evaluate the higher education institution but instead reviews the validity of the appeal and assesses any procedural irregularities in the evaluation process. The procedures governing appeal submissions, the functioning of the Appeals Commission, and its decision-making process are outlined in the Description of the Procedure for the Examination of Complaints and Reports on the Quality of Studies at the Centre for Quality Assessment of Higher Education, as approved by the Director of the Centre.

The Appeals Commission may take one of the following actions:

• Reject the appeal;
• Uphold the appeal in full or in part, requiring the Centre to:
  • Resubmit the evaluation report to the Study Evaluation Committee for reconsideration;
  • Return the evaluation report to the expert panel for revision;
  • Conduct a new external evaluation.

All appeals are reviewed within 20 working days of submission.

Decisions made by the Centre and the Appeals Commission may be further contested in accordance with the Law on Administrative Proceedings of the Republic of Lithuania.