ENToday, Lithuania's higher education, which is totally integrated into the European Higher Education Area, is considered as one of the most innovative branches of the national economy. However, the more detailed characteristics such as availability, financing, autonomy, scientific output, and other factors tend to point to the contrary. This article analyzes the development of Lithuania's higher education during the 1990-2014 time period and argues that its uneven development is connected with the inconsistent higher education policies in which strategic perspective is not always maintained and where more liberal reforms are constantly being neutralized by evidence of control and discipline.