Students: the state's approach to higher education must change

Fewer higher education institutions, 2% of GDP for higher education, a more flexible study process, an impartial source of information about higher education institutions, larger scholarships for high-performing students – this is what the participants of the Lithuanian Students' Union Assembly "Lighthouses of Tomorrow" want to see in higher education in 2030. At the annual event, which took place on the last weekend of summer and is now in its 23rd year, student representatives from all over Lithuania created a student vision of higher education in 2030.

According to Paulius Baltokas, President of the Student Union, when we talk about the future, we are very clearly expressing the things that do not satisfy us in the current higher education. “The resolutions prepared by the student representatives not only show what kind of higher education students imagine in the future, but also reveal the conditions under which this futuristic vision is possible. We believe that the academic community and government institutions should listen to the needs of students, the main participants in the study process, and engage in further dialogue on the implementation of the goals,” says P. Baltokas.

At an event held on the seaside on August 29-31, students prepared 10 resolutions covering: the structure of the study program, informing students, the functions of education in the state, financing of higher education, and the social dimension in higher education.

According to students, one of the fundamental changes that should occur by 2030 is a change in the state's approach to higher education. In the state progress strategy "Lithuania 2030", education is named as one of the main elements that will allow creating a smart society. "Back in 2006, in Lisbon, the European Commission set the goal that funding for higher education in the European Union countries should reach at least 2 percent. GDP, in 2010, the ministers of the Bologna Process countries, including Lithuania, agreed that despite economic difficulties, funding for higher education should remain a priority. However, although education is named as one of the most important areas in the state, when the time comes to allocate the budget, it has been forgotten for several years," says Paulius Baltokas, President of the Lithuanian State Students' Union.

Students believe that there should be fewer higher education institutions in Lithuania by 2030. The downward trend will be dictated by the need to compete in the international higher education space and the desire to improve the quality of studies, which is only possible by pooling the resources of several higher education institutions.

As the number of higher education institutions decreases, their opportunities to increase the flexibility of the study process would grow. There would be more study fields in one higher education institution and students would have greater freedom of choice when it comes to elective subjects. A larger number of lecturers and better financial capabilities of higher education institutions would allow solving a large part of the managerial challenges related to a more flexible study process. Student representatives identified a more flexible study process as one of the main changes in future higher education. According to them, in 2030, students will have more freedom to model their study load, i.e. decide for themselves how long the studies will last, how many modules will be studied per semester, increase the number of freely elective subjects and thus determine the direction of their study program. When it comes to the flexibility of the study process, the emphasis was on the wider use of electronic capabilities. According to students, the implementation of the latest technologies in the study process would not only increase the flexibility of studies, providing the opportunity to change study schedules, but would also make higher education more accessible to students with mobility disabilities, as currently not all higher education institutions have the infrastructure adapted to the needs of people with disabilities.

Speaking about the social welfare of students, the Assembly participants paid much attention to the review of the scholarship procedure. Currently, a set amount of money is allocated in the study basket for student motivation, and higher education institutions form scholarships from this money. However, the amount allocated in the study basket for student motivation is only 2.5 BSI (i.e. 325 LTL), and self-paying students do not contribute to the scholarship fund, which means that the scholarship fund is formed only from state-funded student funds, so it is not surprising that Lithuanian student scholarships are currently the lowest in Europe. According to P. Baltokas, if it were not for the goodwill of some higher education institutions, state funding would be enough for only 4 percent. students, to whom scholarships of more than 300 LTL could be paid. “We hope that we will not have to wait until 2030 and that in a 5-year perspective we will be able to agree that scholarships would reach a certain indicator from the minimum wage or from the average wage. We will strive for a well-performing student to know that he will receive a scholarship that will be enough for at least minimal needs and he will not have to additionally look for a job or ask for help from his parents, after all, the main duty of a student is to achieve high study results. Unfortunately, for now, the social situation of students simply does not allow them to study,” says P. Baltokas.

During the assembly, great attention was paid to ensuring a smooth transition from secondary to higher education. According to students, students are particularly lacking an impartial source of information about higher education institutions, since currently the main informant is the higher education institutions themselves, which, without a doubt, are trying to highlight their strengths. According to students, more attention should be paid to school career centers and reviewing their functions. Information from the Center for Quality Assessment of Studies, which evaluates higher education institutions and study programs, should be more widely communicated among students. According to students, it is the Center for Quality Assessment of Studies that should be one of the main disseminators of impartial information to students. Both students and students agreed that the problem of the lack of impartial information is currently extremely relevant, because higher education institutions are increasingly paying more attention to marketing, for example, creating attractive study program titles, rather than to the actual content of the study programs.

Resolutions on Lithuanian Higher Education were drafted during the Assembly of the Lithuanian Students' Union, which took place on August 29-31. The Assembly is a traditional event that has been taking place for 23 years, which promotes dialogue between students, schoolchildren, institutions shaping higher education policy and the business sector. The 2014 Assembly, with the theme "Beacons of Tomorrow", was dedicated to looking at the future of higher education in the year 2030.