Organisation of the Development and Assessment of Study Programmes

The National Audit Office has performed an audit of the development and assessment of university study programmes at the Ministry of Education and Science, Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education, and thirteen selected state universities. Auditor General Ms Giedre Švedienė commented on the audit findings as follows: “The National Education Strategy provides for that study programmes have to be in line with the international standards and labour market needs. Universities may run only the study programmes which have been assessed and accredited pursuant to the Procedure of External Assessment and Accreditation of Study Programmes. The auditors established that the development, revision and assessment of the programmes during the audited time was not always conducted in the required manner. University resources would be used more efficiently if universities assessed study achievements and changes in the labour market and drew up study programme development and revision plans in line with funding possibilities.”

The auditors established that the planning of the development and revision of study programmes by universities lacks systematic approach. Some study programmes have been developed without sufficient justification for their demand and availability of necessary resources for the implementation of the programme goals, such as qualified pedagogical and scientific staff for the implementation of study programmes and adequate facilities, universities sometimes fail to ensure that literature and study facilities required for study programmes are easily accessible to students.

It was also established that involvement of students and social partners, future employers, in the preparation of study programmes is often only formal, which is confirmed by most surveyed students’ representations which claimed to have no motivation to express their opinion. Only less than half of the audited universities have regulated the involvement of employers in the study programme development process.

The audit report also points out that higher institutions have been given a possibility to run study programmes for three years without having eliminated the shortcoming identified by experts during an external assessment.

None of the thirteen audited state universities, which cover 94 per cent of the total number of university students, publish all information on study programmes, self-assessment results, stakeholders’ opinion about the study quality, employment of graduates after their studies, etc., as required in relevant legislation.

The National Audit Office recommended to the Ministry of Education and Science to coordinate the provisions of the legislation which regulates the assessment and accreditation of study programmes, as well as to provide for legal presumptions for the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education to perform monitoring of the implementation of the recommendations on the improvement of the quality of study programmes given to the universities and to inform the general public on the implementation process. The Centre was recommended to initiate coordination of the legislation which regulates the assessment and accreditation of study programmes and to ensure more active involvement of social partners in expert groups in the study programmes assessment process.