The article seeks to develop the concept of social competence in higher education based not only on theoretical background but also on the reflections of social competence in European Union (EU) and national (in this case – Lithuanian) regulations of higher education. Theoretical analysis revealed that social competence as a concept has many definitions. As a result it was recognized that the set of skills defining social competence differs depending on the context where they are exploredand the particular components of the social competence in education are revealed. They served as the base to identify how social competence reveals itself in higher education. In order to carry out this task the empirical research – relevant document analysis was performed.
The article seeks to develop the concept of social competence in higher education based not only on theoretical background but also on the reflections of social competence in European Union (EU) and national (in this case – Lithuanian) regulations of higher education. Theoretical analysis revealed that social competence as a concept has many definitions. As a result it was recognized that the set of skills defining social competence differs depending on the context where they are exploredand the particular components of the social competence in education are revealed. They served as the base to identify how social competence reveals itself in higher education. In order to carry out this task the empirical research – relevant document analysis was performed.
The article seeks to develop the concept of social competence in higher education based not only on theoretical background but also on the reflections of social competence in European Union (EU) and national (in this case – Lithuanian) regulations of higher education. Theoretical analysis revealed that social competence as a concept has many definitions. As a result it was recognized that the set of skills defining social competence differs depending on the context where they are exploredand the particular components of the social competence in education are revealed. They served as the base to identify how social competence reveals itself in higher education. In order to carry out this task the empirical research – relevant document analysis was performed.
The article \"Quality Assurance of Higher Education in the Context of Changes\" overviews research, Lithuanian and international documents, which highlight quality assurance of higher education as an instrument for achieving economic and social goals. Quality assurance procedures must ensure participation of all stakeholders, both internal and external, also conditions in terms of increasing the trust - responsibility and accountability. In the system of quality assurance of higher education, the integration of managerial methods with the use of political, bureaucratic and administrative measures is dominant, but the development of activities based on democratic principles is also noticeable.
The article \"Quality Assurance of Higher Education in the Context of Changes\" overviews research, Lithuanian and international documents, which highlight quality assurance of higher education as an instrument for achieving economic and social goals. Quality assurance procedures must ensure participation of all stakeholders, both internal and external, also conditions in terms of increasing the trust - responsibility and accountability. In the system of quality assurance of higher education, the integration of managerial methods with the use of political, bureaucratic and administrative measures is dominant, but the development of activities based on democratic principles is also noticeable.
This paper deals with the informational aspects of ensuring the social development of higher education – the strategic objective in creating the European higher education area. The importance of the informational aspects of social dimension in higher education is indicated by the fact that the EU education and training policy is based on the open method of coordination. Informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education are examined by performing an analysis of the EU documents on policy strategy, the Bologna Process documents, and the Bologna process progress report. The investigation has revealed a growing emphasis on the informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education, which is caused by the lack of respective information, the shortage of national data and non-comparability problems. In the analysis of the Bologna process report, the paper notes an expanding reach of the informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education.
This paper deals with the informational aspects of ensuring the social development of higher education – the strategic objective in creating the European higher education area. The importance of the informational aspects of social dimension in higher education is indicated by the fact that the EU education and training policy is based on the open method of coordination. Informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education are examined by performing an analysis of the EU documents on policy strategy, the Bologna Process documents, and the Bologna process progress report. The investigation has revealed a growing emphasis on the informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education, which is caused by the lack of respective information, the shortage of national data and non-comparability problems. In the analysis of the Bologna process report, the paper notes an expanding reach of the informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education.
This paper deals with the informational aspects of ensuring the social development of higher education – the strategic objective in creating the European higher education area. The importance of the informational aspects of social dimension in higher education is indicated by the fact that the EU education and training policy is based on the open method of coordination. Informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education are examined by performing an analysis of the EU documents on policy strategy, the Bologna Process documents, and the Bologna process progress report. The investigation has revealed a growing emphasis on the informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education, which is caused by the lack of respective information, the shortage of national data and non-comparability problems. In the analysis of the Bologna process report, the paper notes an expanding reach of the informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education.
This paper deals with the informational aspects of ensuring the social development of higher education – the strategic objective in creating the European higher education area. The importance of the informational aspects of social dimension in higher education is indicated by the fact that the EU education and training policy is based on the open method of coordination. Informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education are examined by performing an analysis of the EU documents on policy strategy, the Bologna Process documents, and the Bologna process progress report. The investigation has revealed a growing emphasis on the informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education, which is caused by the lack of respective information, the shortage of national data and non-comparability problems. In the analysis of the Bologna process report, the paper notes an expanding reach of the informational aspects of the social dimension of higher education.
The scientific problem of dissertation: how to evaluate the impact of higher education funding models on access to higher education. The higher education funding models, funding methods, theoretical aspects of access to higher education, the methodologies for evaluating the impact of higher education funding models on access to higher education are analyzed, the advantages and disadvantages of the applied evaluation methods are determined. A new research methodology is used to evaluate the impact of higher education funding models on access to higher education in the context of EU countries and in the groups of countries, which apply different higher education funding models based on cost-sharing. EU countries are grouped into four higher education funding models based on economic indicators relevant to higher education funding, using cluster analysis. A panel data analysis method (fixed effects model) is used for the impact evaluation. The results of the dissertation show that higher education funding models by cost-sharing (i.e., low tuition-high-subsidy; low-tuition-lowsubsidy; high tuition-low-subsidy; high-tuition-high-subsidy higher education funding models) have a different statistically significant impact on access to higher education. Besides, EU countries, that apply a high-tuitionhigh-subsidy higher education funding model, provide better results of gender equality as well as better represent low (middle) socio-economic status students in higher education, in comparison to other EU countries, that use other higher education funding models.
The scientific problem of dissertation: how to evaluate the impact of higher education funding models on access to higher education. The higher education funding models, funding methods, theoretical aspects of access to higher education, the methodologies for evaluating the impact of higher education funding models on access to higher education are analyzed, the advantages and disadvantages of the applied evaluation methods are determined. A new research methodology is used to evaluate the impact of higher education funding models on access to higher education in the context of EU countries and in the groups of countries, which apply different higher education funding models based on cost-sharing. EU countries are grouped into four higher education funding models based on economic indicators relevant to higher education funding, using cluster analysis. A panel data analysis method (fixed effects model) is used for the impact evaluation. The results of the dissertation show that higher education funding models by cost-sharing (i.e., low tuition-high-subsidy; low-tuition-lowsubsidy; high tuition-low-subsidy; high-tuition-high-subsidy higher education funding models) have a different statistically significant impact on access to higher education. Besides, EU countries, that apply a high-tuitionhigh-subsidy higher education funding model, provide better results of gender equality as well as better represent low (middle) socio-economic status students in higher education, in comparison to other EU countries, that use other higher education funding models.
The research paper "Public Discourse on Lithuanian Higher Education" discloses that despite the achievements and international recognition, society is critical of the higher education system and university activities. The discrepancy between the assessment results by the Lithuanian society and international, might be possible due to the biased information provided by the media. The public discourse on higher education concentrates on the higher education image building process and aims to provide the answers to the questions: what, how and why the media builds that type of image and what the consequences are. The purpose of the research was to analyze the data from the articles on higher education in the traditional and internet media during the period September 2005 to March 2006. The findings prove that the majority of the articles on higher education are critical. The number and the content of the articles disclosed a tendency to build a negative image of the higher education institutions in the media. Opinion leaders put forward a message that the following stakeholders are not satisfied with the quality of higher education: students, young scientists and employers. Critique of the higher education management ranked as the most frequent among other topics on higher education. This closely relates to other internal problems of higher education institution which provoke critical reaction from the public. The author states that corruption, protectionism, stagnation in the higher education, are the topics that are easily understood by the general public and escalate negative image building. The research on the frequency of mentioning higher education topic by months, show that even in the context of other important higher education related events, the topics mentioned above prevail. Comparing the attitudes on education topics created by the media to public statistical data, we have noticed that the media manipulates statistical data and other discourse facts and statements to promote a negative higher education image. Since the majority of the Lithuanian society are not familiar with the Lithuanian laws on higher education and EU documents, they do not distinqiush between college and university education which makes it easy to charnel a biased and distorted information through the media. The lack of information on the international tendencies in higher education can also help to view the local problems as unique. Comparison of the ways the problems are presented in Great Britain and Lithuanian media show different attitudes and aims. Only a close cooperation between the stakeholders (students, higher education institution, government, businesses) can guarantee quality higher education. Likewise, these stakeholders are responsible for the state and the quality of the higher education. However, only the businesses avoid the critique in the media. Moreover, the statements made by the businesses on higher education, protection of the areas directly related to business and ignoring and treating other areas as inferior, show their attempt to re- organize universities to serve their purposes only and to equally participate in the allocation of the EU structural funds. Thus, we make a preposition that certain business groups are responsible for the negative image building of the higher education in Lithuania. This divides the academic society, as well as Lithuanian society and involves into fruitless debates, postpones decision making, reform implementation and development of the higher education. Abundance of the critical articles diminishes the value of the higher education in the eyes of the Lithuanian society.
The research paper "Public Discourse on Lithuanian Higher Education" discloses that despite the achievements and international recognition, society is critical of the higher education system and university activities. The discrepancy between the assessment results by the Lithuanian society and international, might be possible due to the biased information provided by the media. The public discourse on higher education concentrates on the higher education image building process and aims to provide the answers to the questions: what, how and why the media builds that type of image and what the consequences are. The purpose of the research was to analyze the data from the articles on higher education in the traditional and internet media during the period September 2005 to March 2006. The findings prove that the majority of the articles on higher education are critical. The number and the content of the articles disclosed a tendency to build a negative image of the higher education institutions in the media. Opinion leaders put forward a message that the following stakeholders are not satisfied with the quality of higher education: students, young scientists and employers. Critique of the higher education management ranked as the most frequent among other topics on higher education. This closely relates to other internal problems of higher education institution which provoke critical reaction from the public. The author states that corruption, protectionism, stagnation in the higher education, are the topics that are easily understood by the general public and escalate negative image building. The research on the frequency of mentioning higher education topic by months, show that even in the context of other important higher education related events, the topics mentioned above prevail. Comparing the attitudes on education topics created by the media to public statistical data, we have noticed that the media manipulates statistical data and other discourse facts and statements to promote a negative higher education image. Since the majority of the Lithuanian society are not familiar with the Lithuanian laws on higher education and EU documents, they do not distinqiush between college and university education which makes it easy to charnel a biased and distorted information through the media. The lack of information on the international tendencies in higher education can also help to view the local problems as unique. Comparison of the ways the problems are presented in Great Britain and Lithuanian media show different attitudes and aims. Only a close cooperation between the stakeholders (students, higher education institution, government, businesses) can guarantee quality higher education. Likewise, these stakeholders are responsible for the state and the quality of the higher education. However, only the businesses avoid the critique in the media. Moreover, the statements made by the businesses on higher education, protection of the areas directly related to business and ignoring and treating other areas as inferior, show their attempt to re- organize universities to serve their purposes only and to equally participate in the allocation of the EU structural funds. Thus, we make a preposition that certain business groups are responsible for the negative image building of the higher education in Lithuania. This divides the academic society, as well as Lithuanian society and involves into fruitless debates, postpones decision making, reform implementation and development of the higher education. Abundance of the critical articles diminishes the value of the higher education in the eyes of the Lithuanian society.
The Bologna declaration stresses the importance of education and educational co-operation in the development and strengthening of stable, peaceful and democratic societies. Additionally the declaration highlights the need to promote European co-operation in quality assurance with a view to develop comparable criteria and methodologies. The cooperative activity of universities created preconditions for students' mobility under the Leonardo da Vinci and Socrates programmes. Hence, a comparison of efficiency of engineering education studies at partner institutions has become a topical issue. The paper presents the problems related to engineering education quality at different universities and suggests a system of indicators that are applicable for education quality estimation. The main idea is to compare the distinguished aspects of the education process and to evaluate quality of teaching. The efficiency of different subjects (social and engineering) is estimated by applying sets of criteria, to be implemented by incorporating a proposed system of criteria into questionnaires for students at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU), who participate in student mobility programmes. Processing of the received responses let the author achieve the ultimate aim, i.e. to trace differences in the quality of teaching. Policy implications in the field of engineering education quality management are seen as main outcome of presented research.
The Bologna declaration stresses the importance of education and educational co-operation in the development and strengthening of stable, peaceful and democratic societies. Additionally the declaration highlights the need to promote European co-operation in quality assurance with a view to develop comparable criteria and methodologies. The cooperative activity of universities created preconditions for students' mobility under the Leonardo da Vinci and Socrates programmes. Hence, a comparison of efficiency of engineering education studies at partner institutions has become a topical issue. The paper presents the problems related to engineering education quality at different universities and suggests a system of indicators that are applicable for education quality estimation. The main idea is to compare the distinguished aspects of the education process and to evaluate quality of teaching. The efficiency of different subjects (social and engineering) is estimated by applying sets of criteria, to be implemented by incorporating a proposed system of criteria into questionnaires for students at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU), who participate in student mobility programmes. Processing of the received responses let the author achieve the ultimate aim, i.e. to trace differences in the quality of teaching. Policy implications in the field of engineering education quality management are seen as main outcome of presented research.
