Konkurencija tarp aukštųjų mokyklų - teoriniai modeliai ir plėtotės galimybės

LTŠiame straipsnyje aptariamas vienas iš aukštojo mokslo pertvarkos aspektų — konkurencija tarp aukštųjų mokyklų. Pažymima, kad finansavimas yra bene dažniausiai diskutuojama aukštojo mokslo reformos sritis, tačiau į tiesiogiai su finansavimu susijusią konkurencijos problemą yra kur kas mažiau įsigilinta. Straipsnyje pateikiami trys galimi teoriniai konkurencijos tarp aukštųjų mokyklų modeliai: laisvos konkurencijos, konkurencijos nebuvimo, arba monopolijos, ir ribotos konkurencijos. Aptariami kiekvieno modelio ypatumai ir plėtotės galimybės. Apibendrinant daroma išvada, kad dabartiniame Lietuvos aukštojo mokslo raidos etape laisvos konkurencijos ir monopolijos modeliai vargu ar įmanomi. Užuot kūrus eklektišką konkurencijos skatinimo aukštojo mokslo sistemoje modelį, tikslingiau būtų toliau kryptingai formuoti ribotos konkurencijos modelio išgryninimo ir harmonizavimo strategiją. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Aukštasis mokslas; Konkurencija; Reforma; Higher education; Competition; Reform.

ENFinancial reform of higher education is perhaps one of the most disputable topics of the current reform initiatives in Lithuania. However, competition among higher education institutions as one of the inevitable aspects of the financial reform so far receives much less detailed attention from the reformers of higher education. Suggestions concerning competition mechanisms voiced by the reform enthusiasts are rather contradictory and sometimes just incompatible. Therefore the aim of our study was to analyse different theoretical models of competition in higher education and to depict the possible ways of their development. Our major assumption was that there are at least three theoretical models of competition in higher education: free market competition, absence of competition or monopoly, and limited competition. Free market competition is practically unapplicable in Lithuanian higher education as well as in most of the other countries, though some believers in radical liberalism are still promoting free market approach in the educational domain. The model of state monopoly in higher education is rather well known by older academics.The Soviet model of higher education was a monopolistic one, and such an approach still has its own supporters. Though state monopoly allows to solve seemingly easily many problems of allocating funding, entry requirements, structural changes, etc., it's hardly applicable in contemporary Lithuania because of the democratical political system and the principle of the academic autonomy applied to universities. The model of limited competition is the currently existing model in Lithuanian higher education, and the most realistic way is to develop and harmonize this particular model, which at the moment is rather incomplete and contradictory. The article discusses a range of means for encouraging limited competition among universities: formula funding for students, university ratings and league tables, project funding of research activities, competition in the international higher education market, etc. The main conclusion of the study is that, instead of creating a new eclectic model of funding higher education, the better option is to proceed with the improvement of the limited competition model. [From the publication]