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LITHUANIA |
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LITHUANIA |
THE EUROPEAN AND COMPARATIVE DIMENSION
To date, there are no comparative PA courses focusing exclusively on Europe in Lithuania. There are, however, courses that analyse the EU as a politico-administrative system and comparative PA courses concentrating predominantly on Europe. There is also an awareness that the European and comparative dimensions should exist in the majority of courses oriented to the practice of PA.
At present, the European Integration Process course (Assoc. Prof. A. Junevicius) has been taught for KTU’s master's students for four years. Although it is an elective course, it is usually selected by many master's students. The Principles of Public Administration and Comparative Analysis (Assoc. Prof. A. Raipa), a mandatory course for master’s students, is also primarily focused on the EU. The European and comparative dimension is also reflected in other master’s courses, e.g., Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resource Management. In their master’s theses, many students explore various aspects of European integration and Lithuania's preparation to join the EU. A doctoral course, Organisational and Legal Basis of the European Union (Prof. V. Domarkas), and an undergraduate course, Fundamentals of European Integration (Assoc. Prof. A. Junevicius), are also available.
The Department of European Integration (Assoc. Prof. V. Pukeliene, Department Head) of KTU’s Faculty of Administration intends to develop and introduce specialised courses to PA programmes. These will include the History of European Integration and Common Politics, Institutions Integrating Europe, European Economic Integration, Politics of Lithuania’s Integration into Europe and Environmental Management Systems.
Vilnius University master's programme offers three courses dealing with different areas of comparative PA: Economic Transformation in Central and East European Countries (Prof. J. Cicinskas), Comparative Public Law (Assoc. Prof. S. Katuoka) and Comparative Local Government (Assist. Prof. G. Steponavicius). A course on public administration in the European Union is planned.
The European comparative dimension in Vytautas Magnus University’s bachelor's programme in PA concentrates on political science and law. There are three courses in this category: Introduction to Comparative Policy, Local Government Policy in the European Union, and Law of the European Union.
The EU as a political-administrative system will be analysed in LTA’s bachelor's programme in the Processes of European Integration course and in the master's programme in Management of the European Integration Processes course (Dr. D. Budreikaite). Classes in Institutional Law of the European Union and Legal Aspects of Relations between Lithuania and the European Union will also be taught.
The main aim of PA programmes in Lithuania is to contribute to the creation of an effective public administration in all areas of the state management by preparing professionals who are able address current needs but also to solve strategic problems at all levels of the public administration. The primary tasks for these programmes is to relate to the progressive world and especially European practices in public administration and, at the same time, to guarantee relevance to real processes taking place in Lithuania. As Lithuania seeks to become a member of the EU, all PA programs are oriented to preparing specialists cable of performing their duties under the conditions of European integration and social, economical and technological globalisation. At present, this is extremely important as, according to “The Opinion of the European Union Commission on Lithuania’s Application for Participation in the European Union” (1997) and the European Commission's “Regular (Annual) Report on Lithuania’s Progress Towards Accession” (4 November 1998), Lithuania’s state administration is limited by a lack of experience and resources. These factors impede the government's attempts to reform the system, and it is necessary to strengthen institutional and legislative administration reform efforts. Therefore, in developing PA programs, the European and comparative dimension is likely to expand. On the other hand, PA as an academic field is relatively broad at present, so Lithuanian institutions of higher education must develop focused, specialised courses rather than general comparative PA courses.
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