By Kristina Karlonė, Goda Malinauskaitė, Jovita Gaižauskaitė, LRT TV, LRT.lt.

Several Lithuanian universities are protesting unannounced inspections by the Migration Department, saying that officers have entered lectures and dormitories without warning, requested documents from students and staff, and recorded video during the checks – actions academics argue disrupt teaching and undermine university autonomy.

The Migration Department says inspections are part of its effort to clamp down on foreigners who use university enrolment as a gateway to the EU’s job market.

Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) said staff were startled last week when two unidentified women with video cameras entered the International Relations Department looking for foreign students.

“They did not introduce themselves or show any identification. They were filming our employees,” KTU spokesman Mantas Lapinskas said. The women were asked to leave, he added.

KTU officials said they had received no advance notice of any inspection and view such visits as a threat to autonomy. “Legally, there are two issues here: GDPR and data protection, because people were being filmed, and the matter of university autonomy. Any such visit must be coordinated with the university,” Lapinskas said.

Read more: LRT.LT