Išorinio kokybės užtikrinimo kaita : Lietuvos aukštojo mokslo atvejis

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Aukštojo mokslo kokybės vertinimas; Išorinis kokybės vertinimas; Vidinis kokybės vertinimas; Aukštasis mokslas; Quality assurance of higher education; External quality assurance; Internal quality assurance; Higher education.

ENToday nearly all European countries have established national quality assurance systems. Nearly all systems involve four main elements: quality assurance agency, self-evaluation report, peers review and public report on evaluation results. Central and Eastern European countries (Lithuania among them) are still using accreditation practices and focusing only on minimum standards, using narrow and specific criteria while disregarding the overall educational context, impinging on academic freedom, being a restraint on innovation and quality enhancement. Increasing autonomy of higher education institutions and responsibility for the activities stimulate changes in external quality assurance looking for right balance between autonomy and control. This article is aimed at formulating the answer to the question – what changes of external quality assurance should be introduces in order to stimulate internal quality assurance processes and promoting autonomy of higher education institutions. The formation of universal quality assurance model was highly influenced by the alterations in European higher education area. Although all the systems comprise the same elements, they use difference quality assurance procedures that differ in aims and objects. Examples of United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland highlighted the move towards audits of internal quality assurance systems in higher education institutions. Today Lithuania pursues two types of external evaluation – programme evaluation and institutional review. The aims of both types of evaluations involve accountability, quality enhancement and provision of information. As every evaluation is led by accreditation decision it is obvious that accountability is dominant. We could state that quality assurance in Lithuania is a political tool aimed at control of higher education.The experience of 14 years of evaluation in Lithuania shows that programmes of higher education have reached the basic level, as nearly 95% of study programmes are being accredited. Growth of internal quality assurance systems in higher education institutions requires new methods of external evaluation that would focus on quality enhancement and internal quality processes in institutions. The foundation for such shift is laid down in national legislation and is supported by the financial resources from European Union Structural funds. The direction of changes in quality assurance in Lithuania could be described as follows: a new type of external quality assurance should emerge with the aim to enhance quality and orientation towards internal quality assurance processes in higher education institutions. The new type of evaluation should replace part of the procedures used before introducing consistency and interdependence of all kind of evaluations. [From the publication]