Lithuanian higher education: between path dependence and change

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Collection:
Mokslo publikacijos / Scientific publications
Document Type:
Knygos dalis / Part of the book
Language:
Anglų kalba / English
Title:
Lithuanian higher education: between path dependence and change
Authors:
In the Book:
25 years of transformations of higher education systems in Post-Soviet countries : reform and continuity / editors Jeroen Huisman, Anna Smolentseva, Isak Froumin. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. P. 285-310
Subject Category:
LT
Apgyvendinimas ir maitinimas / Catering industry; Aukštasis mokslas. Studijos / Higher education. Study; Teisėkūra. Teisės šaltiniai / Legislation. Sources of law; 20 amžius; Lietuva (Lithuania); Vilnius. Vilniaus kraštas (Vilnius region).
Summary / Abstract:

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Aukštasis mokslas; Aukštojo mokslo apimtis; Aukštojo mokslo istorija Lietuvoje; Aukštojo mokslo reformos XXI a.; Aukštojo mokslo transformacija; Postsovietinė Lietuva; Teisinis reguliavimas; Higher Education; History of Higher education in Lithuania; Legal regulation; Post-Soviet Lithuania; Reforms of higher education in XXI c.; Scope of higher education; Transformation of the higher education.

ENOver the past century, Lithuanian higher education has experienced a steady horizontal differentiation. It started with a moderate differentiation in the Soviet times and intensified after 1990 when two regional universities and new specialized universities were created, many universities opened new programmes, and Vytautas Magnus University was re-established. Horizontal differentiation was especially fostered by the Law on Higher Education and Science in 2000, as it created a binary higher education system and allowed the establishment of private universities and institutions of a non-university type. This development opened the door to a number of small private and public colleges which strongly focused on management, business and law - the subjects which were in high demand at that time. These subjects were also taught at different universities, with new management and social sciences programmes being introduced at all universities, even though they could be, for instance, specialized in sports or agriculture. This blossoming of programmes and rapid system expansion catered for the ever increasing number of students, when up to 70% of high school graduate cohorts were going to obtain higher education. Issues of quality as well as funding through tuition fees were often the topic of policy debates. The state used quality assurance instruments of programme accreditation as well as institutional evaluations to "tame" the expansion of programmes and to ensure minimum quality. As the demographic reality started to change and student numbers started to drop (with the prognosis of 40% drop until 2020) the vertical differentiation started to increase even further.Some institutions in Lithuania have changed their names quite a few times, sometimes to ensure that the same rector will be in office for a longer period of time than usual (e.g. Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, Mykolas Romeris University). At the same time, renaming institutions has served the symbolic purpose of "relabelling" into a new profile, which may reflect institutions’ intentions to "abandon" earlier legacies and specializations (in the case of Mykolas Romeris - former police school, and then law and social sciences orientation) and to signal that the profile of the institution has become broader. The Lithuanian higher education system was vertically differentiated from the outset - with one main classical comprehensive university catering for the needs of the nation. This trend has been maintained after 1990. However, the stratification of the institutions has increased due to the creation of the binary system, as well as the appearance of private higher education institutions. The prestige of public traditional universities and technological universities has remained the same, with Vilnius University still being the top university in terms of research output and student numbers. The specialized public institutions are stratified into two main categories. The well-established and prestigious specialized Arts and Music Academies and the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences recruit students on a national basis and have good reputation both nationally and internationally. At the same time, regional universities as well as some private higher education institutions and public colleges serve regional needs.They enjoy moderate prestige and have certain research strengths, but their main focus is on teaching and contribution to regional economy and knowledge transfer. Recent national rankings, a variety of international rankings of study programmes and the attempt of the Ministry of Education and Science to evaluate research quality at Lithuanian universities in 2014-2015 show that the government is keen to identify "winners and losers" in the system. Further, the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education with its programme and institutional accreditations has indirectly sustained the system’s vertical differentiation. However, it is not that easy to establish a thoroughly stratified system in Lithuania as there are many lobby forces and a strong tradition of higher education funding on historical basis, which is not easy to uproot. The main developments towards performance-based funding and especially the availability of science funding via Lithuanian Research Council for basic research using EU Structural Funds seem to be one of the main instruments to boost the prestige of researchers and research groups from Lithuanian universities. Teaching and research at universities have been "reconnected" in stronger ways due to external research funding. In this respect, the role of the Lithuanian Research Council as well as EU funding in the stratification of the system should not be neglected. [...]. [Extract, p. 304-305]

DOI:
10.1007/978-3-319-52980-6_11
ISBN:
9783319529790
Subject:
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https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/78895
Updated:
2020-04-24 06:52:37
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