LITHUANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION AND CENTRE FOR QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN HE

Nora Skaburskienė Director

Centre for Quality Assessment in HE (SKVC)

2017

www.skvc.lt

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Higher Education in Lithuania

44 Higher Education Institutions

~ 1800 I&II cycle study programmes

~131 000 students

2,9 mln. population

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Binary system of HE

There are 44 HEIs in Lithuania: 22 Universities 22 Colleges of higher education

university sector

college of higher education sector

70%

30%

students

students

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State vs. private HE

44 HEIs in Lithuania:

26 state

18 non-state

non-state sector

state sector

90% students

10% students

NON-DEGREE

STUDIES

LTQF 8

EQF 8

LTQF 7

EQF 7

LTQF 6

EQF 6

• Decrease of students (by 1/3 from 2008)

• Number of graduates from secondary schools will

decrease by ¼ by 2020

• Number of HEIs – nearly the same – 44 HEIs

• HEIs attract a larger proportion of graduates from

secondary schools

• More international students

• Increasing number of joint degree programmes

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Tendencies in Lithuanian HE

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Graduates of same year Graduates of previous years

Tendencies in Lithuanian HE

Short cycle programmes – to be introduced with the new Law on

HE&R

Optimisation of the network of state HEIs

Performance contracts with HEIs to be introduced in 2018

Continuous work on student-centered learning and learning

outcomes

More attention towards quality of teaching

More attention towards social responsibility and academic ethics

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Furhter developments expected

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to encourage quality of activities of HEI

to contribute to creation of favorable conditions for free movement of persons

• assessment of foreign qualifications

• provision of info and consultations

• review and accreditation of HEI (institutional review)

• evaluation and accreditation of HE study programs (new and

in operation)

• assessment of (new) establishing HEI

Activities of SKVC

values

professionalism and quality

respect and trust

cooperation

independence and impartiality

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MISSION

SKVC is an influential generator, implementer and

disseminator of ideas on improvement of quality and

enhancement of internationalisation in higher

education - in both Lithuania and the rest of Europe

VISION

To create favourable conditions for the improvement

of higher education quality in Lithuania and

the free movement of persons in the world with the

aim of enhancing competitiveness of Lithuanian

higher education and clarity of its qualifications

Kas yra kokybė?

We at SKVC understand quality first of all as

fitness for purpose.

Quality is multidimensional phenomenon,

where agreement of all stakeholders

(academics, administrators, students, labor

market representatives) regarding what is

quality it is of utmost importance.

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What is quality?

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quality assurance ≠ evaluation of quality

Quality assurance activities include:

• Consultations before reviews (but not business type!)

• Capacity building during training events, seminars, conferences

(regarding self-evaluation, student centered learning, involvement

of stakeholders, internationalisation...)

• Evaluations (of programs, institutions, applications to establish

providers of HE and related activities)

• Follow-up (visits to reviewed HEIS, targeted seminars regarding

implementation of expert recommendations, publishing]

• Publicity (first of all – of evaluation reports and decisions, then on

evaluations organised, analyses of rezults)

• Analitical activities (on the level of programs and institutions,

country-wide, with interenational references)

• Development of guidelines and drafting of legislation

(evaluation methodologies, subject benchmark statements, etc)

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External Quality Assurance

At least once every 6 years:

• Institutional Review and accreditation

• Study programme evaluation and accreditation

• Effectiveness of IQA

• ESG – Part 1

Consideration of IQA

• Clear aims

• Stakeholder involvement

Methodologies fit for purpose

• Self-assessment · Visit by peers

• Report · Follow-up Process of EQA

• Student member · Employers

• Selection procedure · Training Experts

• Pre-defined

• Published

Criteria for outcomes

• Full text

• All decisions Reporting

• Clearly defined

• Part of EQA process

Complaints and Appeals

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Analysis of self-evaluation report

Members of the expert team individually analyses self-evaluation report and its annexes

~ 1 month before the visit

First day

Expert team attends training organised by SKVC

Expert team make preparations for the visit

Visit to the HEI

Expert team checks information provided in the self-evaluation report, collects evidences

1-5 working days

Drafting report

Expert team prepares draft report

SKVC reviews the draft, if needed Expert team elaborates the draft according to comments

within 1 month after the visit

Preparation of final report

HEI reviews the draft report and makes comments on any factual errors detected in it (if any)

Expert team, after considering the comments, prepares final evaluation report

within 2 weeks

Accreditation procedure

The Study Evaluation

Committee approves or

rejects final evaluation report

SKVC makes a decision on

accreditation based on

evaluation report

Appeal procedure

HEI has the right to make an appeal

The Appel Committee examines the appeal and evaluation report and makes a decision on satisfaction (rejection) of the appeal and further procedure

Follow-up

HEI within 1,5 year after accreditation of the programme draws a report on the progress of implementation of the recommendations describing actions implemented by the HEI

SKVC publishes prorgress report on its website next to the study evaluation report

Involvement of international experts

Study programme evaluation (from 1998):

• International experts - from 2002

Institutional review (from 2011):

• International experts - from the beginning

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Number of evaluations

by international/national experts’ groups

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82

60 48

117

40

199

126

186

293

263

214

76

44 47 53

10 13 15

43

26 22

1 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Programmesevaluated byinternational groups

Programmesevaluated by nationalgroups

Countries of experts

(programme evaluation 2015)

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UK, 23

Estonia, 15

the Netherlands, 11

Poland, 10

Finland,

10 Ireland, 9

Portuga

l, 9 Germany, 9

Latvia, 9

Other Central Europe

countries, 17

Other, 2

Other West Europe

countries, 5

Other Nothern Europe

countris, 10

Other South Europe

countries, 13

20

13

7

3

1

6

13

2 1

2

27

3 4

1

9

3 2 2

1 1

4

6

3

5 4

9

Countries of experts

(Institutional review 2011-2015)

Advantages of international QA

• Avoiding conflicts of interests – increased

objectivity of the process

• Evaluation with the European perspective

• Possibility to find experts of specific areas

• High quality of experts

• Especially important for joint study programmes

• Recommendations for improvement of national

external quality assurance framework

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Advantages of international QA

• Experts – lecturers for trainings, presenters at

the conferences and seminars

• Advices for improvement of procedures

• Advices on political issues (general overview

and recommendations to national authorities;

meetings at the ministry)

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Challenges of international QA

• Lack of knowledge of national HE system

• Cultural differences

• Translation – time and quality

• High financial costs

• Trainings only on the first day of the visit

• Organization of the visit – more complicated

• Burden for HEIs – all documentation in ENG

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From 2010 till 1 Sept 2016 the Center has:

– carried out 50 institutional reviews (26 of universities and 24 of colleges of

higher education) and accredited relevant HEIs;

- performed 842 ex-ante evaluations of study programmes and took

accreditation decisions in 735 cases (in 107 instances the procedure was

discontinued or because of negative evalution the accreditation decision was

not taken);

- performed 1411 ex-post evaluations and took accreditation decisions in

1478 cases (including decisions made on the basis of evaluations done by

other QA agencies, registered in EQAR);

- performed evaluations of 4 applications to establish new HE providers or

their branches, to obtain linces to provide studies and engage in related

activities (2010-2012);

- Organized more than 150 training events, consultative serminars and

discussions on various topics, related to quality in HE (from 2011);

During 2012-2016 SKVC has carried out abroad:

- 3 ex-post evaluations of study programmes;

- 1 institutional review.

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International workshop “Building quality network: what can we

learn from each other? (June 2013)

International conference “Trends and practices in transnational

education” (May 2014)

International conference “Achievements and Challenges in

Implementation of the Bologna Process” (October 2014)

SKVC 20th anniversary forum “Higher Education – Mission

(Im)possible?” (April 2015)

International seminar “Implementation of Student Centered

Learning” (Dec 2015)

International seminar “Implementation of the European Standards

and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in EHEA (ESG-2015):

Challenges to Meet New Expectations” (June 2016)

International conference “Internationalisation and Quality: the Role

of Leadership in Finding the Fine Balance” (November 2016)

SKVC’s commitment to academic community in Lithuania

Drafting subject benchmark statements (50 in 2013-2016)

• INQAAHE (International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher

Education) – full member from 1997

• ENIC/NARIC (European Network of National Information Centres / Network of

National Academic Recognition Information Centres) – full member from 1999

• CEENQA (The Network of Central and Eastern European Quality Assurance

Agencies in Higher Education) – co-founder and full member from 2000

• ENQA (associate member from 2000, full member since 14 Sept 2012)

• Listed on EQAR as trustworthy QA agency from 2012

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International relations

skvc@skvc.lt

www.skvc.lt