Higher education reform – the societal response to new realities and challenges

Abstract

Although the higher education reform currently under preparation in Lithuania is provoking discussions in the academic community, there is nevertheless unanimous agreement concerning its aims: a higher quality of studies and better funding. It is a national imperative to transform the Lithuanian higher education system for the 21st Century and the state is responsible for designing the goals and strategies to accomplish that. Higher education is the gateway to the modern development of each country. To achieve these aims, the working group at the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science prepared a draft plan for the reform and development of higher education. The draft plan consists of several guidelines for the reform of funding, improvement of internal management in higher education institutions and use of resources, and conformity of study programmes to the labour market. It was proposed in the draft plan of higher education development that the internal management of higher education institutions should be revised and study programmes should aim for quality, not quantity. The fragmentation of study programmes should be stopped and faculties should be enlarged. Studies of the same field should be concentrated in one faculty and not scattered across several faculties. This would ensure the better use of intellectual and material resources. Designers of the draft plan are raising the issue of the size of state universities and colleges and their distribution in towns, since it is hardly expedient to maintain several similar higher education institutions in the same town. The active cooperation of employers and higher education institutions is encouraged. According to the reform plan, employers and students should actively participate in councils of higher education institutions and should be involved in the design of study programmes to ensure the training of skills needed in the labour market.