VILNIUS — Three Lithuanian universities announced Tuesday they are looking to offer three-year bachelor degree programs rather than the usual four-year length of study.

Vilnius Pedagogical University, Mykolas Romeris University and Kaunas University Technology all announced their intentions this week to offer [private_supervisor]the shorter courses, but the Ministry of Education said the new structure would have to be approved to ensure there would be no drop in quality.

In fact, the ministry seems cool to the idea. Nerija Putinaitė, a vice minister of education, told Baltic Reports that there was no legal possibility for shorter degrees.

“There is no legal order to initiate a program like that. The most important thing is the quality of the studies and that means that they shouldn’t be shortened in quality,” Putinaitė said.

Despite there being no legal recourse to making a shortened bachelor, Vilnius Pedagogical University is already designing a three-year course on European history studies.

“We are not cutting the existing degrees. We are just planning to design a new study program The History of Europe which will be shorter than the existing study programs. But this new shorter study program has to be firstly approved by the Center for Quality Assessment in Higher Education and if it is approved we’ll start the admission,” Dr. Vytautas Bernotas, associate professor at Vilnius Pedagogical University told Baltic Reports.

Bernotas claimed that the degree would not give a substandard education because all of the core subject matter would still be included.

“It won’t affect the standards of education since this newly designed program will only grant the bachelor’s degree, but won’t provide teacher’s professional qualification as almost all the rest study programs offered at Vilnius Pedagogical University do. Due to the fact that the subjects necessary for acquiring  teacher’s professional qualification could be cut, the study program will be shorter,” Bernotas said.

However, the ministry points out that for highly-specialized education, students could go to colleges and that university need to retain their required breadth of courses.

“We see the university sector as a sector that is preparing researchers for the future and that means specialists. They have to have some university level education, but for a quite narrow specializations we have the college sector,” Putinaitė said. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]the shorter courses, but the Ministry of Education said the new structure would have to be approved to ensure there would be no drop in quality.

In fact, the ministry seems cool to the idea. Nerija Putinaitė, a vice minister of education, told Baltic Reports that there was no legal possibility for shorter degrees.

“There is no legal order to initiate a program like that. The most important thing is the quality of the studies and that means that they shouldn’t be shortened in quality,” Putinaitė said.

Despite there being no legal recourse to making a shortened bachelor, Vilnius Pedagogical University is already designing a three-year course on European history studies.

“We are not cutting the existing degrees. We are just planning to design a new study program The History of Europe which will be shorter than the existing study programs. But this new shorter study program has to be firstly approved by the Center for Quality Assessment in Higher Education and if it is approved we’ll start the admission,” Dr. Vytautas Bernotas, associate professor at Vilnius Pedagogical University told Baltic Reports.

Bernotas claimed that the degree would not give a substandard education because all of the core subject matter would still be included.

“It won’t affect the standards of education since this newly designed program will only grant the bachelor’s degree, but won’t provide teacher’s professional qualification as almost all the rest study programs offered at Vilnius Pedagogical University do. Due to the fact that the subjects necessary for acquiring teacher’s professional qualification could be cut, the study program will be shorter,” Bernotas said.

However, the ministry points out that for highly-specialized education, students could go to colleges and that university need to retain their required breadth of courses.

“We see the university sector as a sector that is preparing researchers for the future and that means specialists. They have to have some university level education, but for a quite narrow specializations we have the college sector,” Putinaitė said. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]the shorter courses, but the Ministry of Education said the new structure would have to be approved to ensure there would be no drop in quality.

In fact, the ministry seems cool to the idea. Nerija Putinaitė, a vice minister of education, told Baltic Reports that there was no legal possibility for shorter degrees.

“There is no legal order to initiate a program like that. The most important thing is the quality of the studies and that means that they shouldn’t be shortened in quality,” Putinaitė said.

Despite there being no legal recourse to making a shortened bachelor, Vilnius Pedagogical University is already designing a three-year course on European history studies.

“We are not cutting the existing degrees. We are just planning to design a new study program The History of Europe which will be shorter than the existing study programs. But this new shorter study program has to be firstly approved by the Center for Quality Assessment in Higher Education and if it is approved we’ll start the admission,” Dr. Vytautas Bernotas, associate professor at Vilnius Pedagogical University told Baltic Reports.

Bernotas claimed that the degree would not give a substandard education because all of the core subject matter would still be included.

“It won’t affect the standards of education since this newly designed program will only grant the bachelor’s degree, but won’t provide teacher’s professional qualification as almost all the rest study programs offered at Vilnius Pedagogical University do. Due to the fact that the subjects necessary for acquiring teacher’s professional qualification could be cut, the study program will be shorter,” Bernotas said.

However, the ministry points out that for highly-specialized education, students could go to colleges and that university need to retain their required breadth of courses.

“We see the university sector as a sector that is preparing researchers for the future and that means specialists. They have to have some university level education, but for a quite narrow specializations we have the college sector,” Putinaitė said. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]the shorter courses, but the Ministry of Education said the new structure would have to be approved to ensure there would be no drop in quality.

In fact, the ministry seems cool to the idea. Nerija Putinaitė, a vice minister of education, told Baltic Reports that there was no legal possibility for shorter degrees.

“There is no legal order to initiate a program like that. The most important thing is the quality of the studies and that means that they shouldn’t be shortened in quality,” Putinaitė said.

Despite there being no legal recourse to making a shortened bachelor, Vilnius Pedagogical University is already designing a three-year course on European history studies.

“We are not cutting the existing degrees. We are just planning to design a new study program The History of Europe which will be shorter than the existing study programs. But this new shorter study program has to be firstly approved by the Center for Quality Assessment in Higher Education and if it is approved we’ll start the admission,” Dr. Vytautas Bernotas, associate professor at Vilnius Pedagogical University told Baltic Reports.

Bernotas claimed that the degree would not give a substandard education because all of the core subject matter would still be included.

“It won’t affect the standards of education since this newly designed program will only grant the bachelor’s degree, but won’t provide teacher’s professional qualification as almost all the rest study programs offered at Vilnius Pedagogical University do. Due to the fact that the subjects necessary for acquiring teacher’s professional qualification could be cut, the study program will be shorter,” Bernotas said.

However, the ministry points out that for highly-specialized education, students could go to colleges and that university need to retain their required breadth of courses.

“We see the university sector as a sector that is preparing researchers for the future and that means specialists. They have to have some university level education, but for a quite narrow specializations we have the college sector,” Putinaitė said. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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