Centre for Civic Education (CCE) notes that the July edition of the Webometrics Ranking, one of the world’s most prominent international university rankings, covering more than 30,000 universities worldwide, has just been published – this time without the University of Montenegro (UoM). The UoM was removed from the latest Webometrics edition due to its use of fabricated data concerning its ranking, namely, the public dissemination of data taken from a website that has no connection whatsoever with the original ranking.
CCE reacted immediately after the UoM published the inaccurate data, initially assuming that this was an inadvertent error that would be corrected in a timely manner. Instead, the data continued to be publicly promoted, including through the UoM’s official communication channels and with the use of public resources. Following months of refusal to correct the inaccurate information, the responsibility of the UoM leadership, headed by Rector Vladimir Božović, can no longer be reduced to an oversight or an unintentional mistake.
CCE has repeatedly warned that such an attitude by the UoM leadership towards the reputation and integrity of Montenegro’s oldest higher education institution seriously undermines its academic credibility and sends the message that institutional reputation and credibility are being subordinated to short-term propaganda interests and personal vanity. We recall a series of well-intentioned press releases, letters and public warnings issued by CCE, to which the UoM leadership failed to respond, disregarding every opportunity to correct the inaccurate information.
The issue soon extended beyond Montenegro’s borders and attracted the attention of the international academic community as part of a broader debate on predatory rankings and the use of fabricated data, as evidenced by articles and analyses published on relevant platforms, including the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Preprints and ResearchGate. Even then, the UoM leadership, primarily Rector Božović and Vice-Rector Irena Orović, failed to take any action to correct the inaccurate information and protect the institution’s credibility, which had already been damaged internationally. Predictably, this resulted in the most damaging possible outcome for the institution itself, its students and academic staff – the removal of the UoM from the Webometrics Ranking.
In addition to losing its visibility on one of the world’s most widely followed university rankings, where it can no longer be found or compared with other higher education institutions, this exclusion sends an extremely negative signal to both the Montenegrin and international academic communities. By violating the fundamental standards of credible data presentation, the UoM leadership has disregarded one of the core principles that higher education institutions should uphold – academic integrity. Even after this error is rectified, it will take time to restore the trust that the UoM has lost.
In addition to the immediate removal of all inaccurate data from the UoM’s platforms, CCE stresses that consequences of this magnitude require the clear determination of the individual responsibility of all those who participated in creating and publicly promoting misleading information, as well as in disregarding CCE’s timely and well-intentioned advice. Personal interests must not be placed above the interests of the state university and the thousands of students whose education and academic future directly depend on the responsible management of this institution. It should also be noted that the UoM received EUR 40,469,500.00 from the state budget this year alone.
CCE therefore calls on the UoM leadership, starting with Rector Božović, to finally acknowledge the extent of the institutional damage it has caused and, without delay, to take all available measures to halt the further erosion of academic integrity, international reputation and public trust in the institution.
Ivan Kašćelan, Project Assistant