QUALITY ASSURANCE AT HIGHER NON-UNIVERSITY INSTITUTIONS: REVEALING THE EDUCATORS‘ ATTITUDES

Lithuania having joined the European Union and seeking the education acquired in Lithuania to be internationally recognized, the necessity emerged to match the education standards with the systems of vocational training in European countries. The project plan (2002-2006) of the development of higher education in Lithuania states that the quality assurance is a top priority. The emphasis is laid on the fact that the quality assurance of higher education should not lack behind the one in the developed European countries. The quality assurance of higher education has been under discussion in the few recent years. How should be the studies organized in order to train students to be able to compete in the labor market of the dynamically developing European countries? To determine the dimensions and standards of the education quality that are common to Lithuanian universities and colleges it is essential to regard the worldwide experience and to apply it in the context of our country. The importance has been laid on the quality assurance at the European universities for the recent 10 years. The subsequent organizations were established in different countries all over the world. A number of the agencies dealing with the quality assurance of higher education started the network partnership. The established Centre for Quality Assessment in higher education plays a major role for implementing the external quality assurance policy in universities and colleges of Lithuania by contributing to the development of human resources. The object of this research is to reveal the educators' attitudes at Marijampolė and Utena colleges towards the establishment of the quality assurance system at college. The research was done in November, 2004 at Marijampole and Utena colleges. There were 120 educator respondents at Marijampole College and 50 respondents at Utena College. 146 of them were lecturers and 24 were the administrative staff. The research done, the conclusions were made that the communities comprising the lecturers as well as the administrative staff of the colleges are concerned about the quality assurance of higher education and studies. The quality of higher non-university studies is being continuously assessed. Moreover, the system of quality assurance is being continuously developed. The educators both at Marijampole and Utena Colleges positively assess their input into the successive performance of the institutions taking an active part in making decisions related to the improvement of the inner system of quality assurance at the institutions.