The Rise and legacy of the dual-fee-track system : a case study of the 2009 higher education reforms in Lithuania

ENAnalysis of the transformative processes in higher education in Lithuania supports the view that the socioeconomic changes in post-communism cannot be explained in terms of neoliberalism. The present state of Lithuanian higher education is defined by a tangle of conflicting interests of different societal groups and, noticeably, by the country's totalitarian past. The driving force of the higher education reforms of 2009 has been to increase their funding. As in many post-communist countries with constitutional rights to higher education free of charge at state HEIs, the fees in state HEIs were introduced for students not qualified for the "state orders for specialists". The reform has been strongly influenced by the Lithuanian Constitutional Court, which has provided the appropriate readings of the Constitution and drafted the precise and irrevocable terms for higher education legislation. The legacy of higher education reform includes the negative effect of the dual-fee-track system on educational standards, growth of inequity, and a further decline from parliamentary supremacy towards "governing with judges". [From the publication]