NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) - An assistant dean at the University of Illinois College of Law in Chicago knowingly inflated grades and LSAT scores for incoming law school classes in an effort to show they had higher credentials, according to a report released today by the university.

The two-month investigation concluded that Paul Pless, the assistant dean of law school admissions, "knowingly and intentionally" miscalculated key data for six years: the class of 2008 along with the classes of 2010 through 2014. The report also found that the law school did not have controls in place to prevent and detect the inaccuracies.

Pless resigned from the university last week after being placed on administrative leave on Sept. 7. An attempt to reach him by phone for comment was unsuccessful.

"On behalf of the University of Illinois College of Law, I wish to apologize to the legal-academic community, our University, our alumni, and our students," said Bruce Smith, dean of the College of Law in a statement. "The investigation has concluded that a single individual -- no longer employed by the college -- was responsible for these inaccuracies. The college takes seriously the issue of data integrity."

The 114-page report was the culmination of an investigation that began Aug. 26, following reports of apparent discrepancies in the university's student-profile data for the class of 2014.

University of Illinois President Michael J. Hogan ordered the investigation, which was led by the university's ethics officer and chief legal counsel with the assistance of the law firm Jones Day and data-analysis firm Duff & Phelps.

"Numbers were altered specifically, and often just slightly, to meet recruitment goals and ranking targets indicating an attempt to demonstrate that the College of Law brought in an even more highly credentialed class," said Margaret Daley of Duff & Phelps.

(Reporting by Moira Herbst)

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