N.Putinaitė: Higher education is not a good that the state must guarantee for everyone

On Wednesday, the government approved a proposal from the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (ŠMSM) to increase state funding for student studies starting next year.

According to the ministry, such a proposal aims to raise the quality of higher education, which would allow it to compete with universities in other countries.

Not everyone has to finish higher

Professors of the VU Institute of International Relations and Political Sciences (TSPMI), associate professor dr. According to N.Putinaitė, such a decision by the Ministry is welcome and even late. This, he said, should have been done earlier.

Doc. Dr. N. Putinaitė emphasized that the prices of some studies (humanities, social sciences) – what the state pays to universities and colleges for the training of students – are “level of dumping”.

Therefore, according to her, the additional funds will reduce the workload of teachers and focus on quality.

In your opinion, you should not fear that the state-funded (VF) places in the university will be reduced, since they were not even all filled last year.

Last year, 16 thousand. More than 3,000 VET places were left unfilled.

“Now the study places are very big. We see an absolute disproportion between those who enter universities and colleges, “he said.

Associate Professor VU TSPMI 15 minutes He said he understood the fears that at the same time the cost of tuition would rise for those students who would have to pay for their studies. However, this, according to the specialist, should not be dramatized.

“Because in Lithuania, as in no other country, we are absolute European leaders in the number of graduates we accept for state-funded places.

It seems to me that we must think in a certain proportion. The saying here would probably be simple: you need to study and get to that state-funded place.

For example, last year or the year before, higher education institutions lowered the criteria for paid spots significantly, and people who weren’t fully prepared for higher education got there. I hope that at least this situation is resolved “, – N.Putinaitė expressed his opinion.

According to her, every student should continue their education after graduation according to their available capabilities, and not only universities but also vocational schools should do so.

“I am not saying that if the results after general education are bad, a person could never enter higher education at any point in their life. But we are talking about the fact that if people come to secondary school unprepared to study there, we cannot expect any quality. And there are many ways to prepare for it, “he said.

Higher education is not a good that the State must guarantee to everyone, to everyone.

True, N. Putinaitė stated that he agrees that certain students from socially excluded families need help, so this area needs to be strengthened separately.

“Higher education is not the good that the state must guarantee for everyone, for everyone. Certainly, not everyone has to graduate from high school. I don’t know when that attitude was formed.

Another thing is that people who are ready to enter an institution of higher education must be able to study successfully. There must be certain selection criteria and a standard, ”he continued.

Received no support

Although, according to the Ministry, the higher education financing project presented to the Government was coordinated with the Lithuanian University Rectors Conference, the Lithuanian University Association, taking into account some observations from student representations, the Ministry did not received the support of the Lithuanian Student Union (LSS).

According to the president of the Eigirdas Sarkanas Union, the students support the aspiration of the Ministry.

However, in his opinion, the project was prepared in a hurry and may adversely affect the availability of studies.

“By increasing the normative enrollment, fewer VF study places are planned, which will elementally reduce the availability of studies financed by the State for those who meet the minimum admission requirements for VF places established by the MES”, stressed the manager of VMS and noted that the general requirements for admission to higher education institutions remain unchanged.

“And the normative tuition fee is basically” tied “to the tuition rate set by the institution of higher education itself, which means that they will be forced to increase tuition fees for those students who intend to study on their own.”

According to him, the project could be postponed for a year and properly prepared after “homework.”

“Now without that task, without some complex vision at all, it is really very difficult to support this project unambiguously.” 15 minutes E. Sarkan said.

He added that the pandemic currently presents enough challenges for 12-year-olds, making drastic new solutions make the process even more difficult.

It really is very difficult to support this project unequivocally.

“Our position is that we must stop playing with the fate of young people, especially in such an uncertain situation,” he said in defense of the interests of the students.

Also, there is a lack of consistency.

“To constantly increase funding per student, we must stop jumping from one extreme, in this case the idea of ​​a free bachelor’s degree, to another, when funding per student is increased without thinking about the consequences that current graduates may experience.” said student representative E. Sarkan.

The system is called faulty

So far, funding per student in Lithuania has been one of the lowest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

According to data from 2017, the state allocated 4,242 euros per student, while the OECD average was 9,393 euros.

“We will not strengthen the quality of studies if our funding per student is one of the lowest among OECD countries. It is extremely important for us to compete with other countries for students,” said Minister of Education, Science and Sports Jurgita Šiugždinienė at a press conference on Tuesday.

Furthermore, it was decided to reduce the number of groups according to which tuition fees are distributed.

Now there are 8 of them, and the prices in the lowest groups are unjustifiably lagging behind others, the gap between the highest and lowest prices is more than 9 times.

According to the minister, the current system is “flawed” and obsolete.

J.Šiugždinienė stated that the existing harmful system should be changed as soon as possible, so waiting another year would not be reasonable.

Responding to criticism from the student union, J.Šiugždinienė asked the question “Do we want to strengthen access to quality studies or access to low-quality studies?”.

“I would like the student association to think more broadly: there are different students, with different talents, who choose different fields of study.

We should not focus only on the fact that funding for the social sciences group is increasing and its price is increasing. We have to look at all the prices, which are different in our country, and here a fundamental revision of the model is already necessary, ”explained J. Šiugždinienė.

The price will go up a quarter.

The Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Gintautas Jakštas, pointed out that currently funding for a student in Lithuania reaches around 4 thousand. euros.

“Current offerings would convert to about 25 percent going forward. Price increase, but it will happen on a constant basis. <...> for those who have already joined, the funding does not change, “he said.

According to the vice minister, the cost of studies could increase by an average of a quarter over the next 4-5 years.

It will also propose to reduce the number of VF places in universities and colleges by around a thousand next year.

According to G.Jakštas, next year about 12 thousand. places.