This year the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education (SKVC) has launched the external evaluation of study fields in Lithuania. The external study fields evaluation is carried out according to the Procedure for the External Evaluation and Accreditation of Studies, Evaluation Areas and Indicators approved by the Minister of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Lithuania (Order No. V-835, issued on 17 July 2019), and the Methodology of External Evaluation of Study Fields, signed by the Director of SKVC (order No. V-149 of 31 December 2019, amended version of 22 July 2020).
The first eight study fields to be evaluated in Lithuanian higher education institutions (HEI) are dental hygiene, electrical engineering, history, literature, mechanical engineering, art history, regional studies and transport engineering.Visits of international expert panels to the HEIs will take place in November-December of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, visits will be organized remotely using live video conferencing software, as stipulated by the Director of SKVC (Order No. V-73 of 7 September 2020).
During the remote procedures, there is no possibility for the experts to physically visit and get acquainted with the learning infrastructure, as well as final student theses, therefore HEIs have to present additional video and (or) photo evidence on the infrastructure used to deliver studies in a given study field (indicating for which cycle the different resourses are used, if necessary) and provide remote access to expert panel memebers to get acquainted with students' final theses, other written work, exam materials. After experts get aquainted with the aforementioned additional information on material resourses, they can express a need for the Lithuanian expert panel member and the evaluation coordinator assigned by SKVC to pay a visit to the HEI to directly examine the resourses dedicated to the study field under evaluation.
Accreditation decissions regarding eight study fields mentioned above will be made at the beginning of 2021.
If there are any questions related to the external evaluation of study fields, HEIs can Access the methodical and legal information on the Centres website or contact us directly by email kokybe@skvc.lt.
