 |
LITHUANIA |
|
LITHUANIA |
IN-SERVICE TRAINING AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Lithuanian central and local government staff are educated in a variety of fields, but very few have a public administration education. It is critical both during a transition period and for a stable future that an efficient and effective work force of public employees be developed in order to provide services citizens deserve and need. There is a need to upgrade skills, change attitudes and develop an ethos of civil service. One means of accomplishing this are stable, long-term in-service training programmes. Effective training, however, is only possible when programmes are well designed, targeted and implemented by highly qualified trainers. Resources must be committed, both in terms of trainers and financial support. Training curricula for civil servants should be address three different groups: new employees of the civil service, qualification advancement programmes and training programmes for senior civil servants.
At present, there is no strictly regulated system of post-entry, pre-service or in-service training in Lithuania. The most widely applied form of training public officials is short in-service courses, where some specific issues related to the practice of public administration are analysed: the newest information on an administrative system, new laws and government regulations, etc.
Approximately the same percentage of PA trainers work in educational institutions as are practitioners in various public agencies. It should be noted that foreign experts and teachers play an important role in offering in-service training.Four main centres in Lithuania organise training courses for public officials:
- Institute of Public Administration, Vilnius (Assoc. Prof. D. Jakimavicius, Director);
- Municipal Training Centre of Kaunas University of Technology (J. Siugzdiniene, Director);
- Public and Local Officials Training and Rehabilitation Centre “Dainava,” Druskininkai (Z. Streikus, Director);
- School of Management and Democracy, Klaipeda (Assoc. Prof. A. Gazarian, Director).
In addition, the Ministry of Finance has a well equipped Tax Inspection Training Centre (Dr. E. Chlivickas, Head), which was created to meet the needs of the ministry and its inspection offices.
The Lithuanian Institute of Public Administration, with the support of PHARE, was established in January 1999 by the Ministry of Management Reforms and Local Government Affairs and the Law Academy of Lithuania. The institute has been granted the right to decide on the content of initial training, qualification advancement and senior civil servants training programmes. Maintaining training programmes and organising the training process also falls into the competence of the institute. Special attention is paid to training civil servants directly involved in EU accession related areas.
The institute will play an important role in coordinating programmes of the other training centres. As the primary organisation responsible for the quality of training, the institute will contract out the composition of training programmes and in the delivery to institutions and individuals from the academic, practical training and civil service sectors.
Long-term training programmes (one year) are offered only by KTU’s Municipal Training Centre. Several European comparative PA issues are included in this program. Upon completing the curriculum, participants receive a university certificate. The centre also provides special training sessions for civil servants from other post-communist countries (Russia, especially the Kaliningrad region, Kyrgyzstan, etc.)
Last year, in order to coordinate training efforts, an association of the institutions mentioned above was established, and Assoc. Prof. R. Malkevicius, Department of Public Administration, KTU, was elected as its president.
Due to other programme commitments and limited resources, traditional academic programmes cannot be expected to provide this type of training for public administration employees. However, they can enhance and provide support for other PA training institutions. These institutions would provide permanent staff and develop much-needed seminars, workshops, etc. The stability of the staff and programmes is essential for the long-term, continued development of a democratic and effective civil service, both at the national and local levels of government. It is clear that institutions of higher education will play an important role in developing an in-service training system for public officials, in organising certified training courses and in developing academic programmes that will allow public officials to receive PA degrees.
[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Introduction ] [ Part 1 ] [ Part 2 ] [ Part 3 ] [ Part 4 ] [ Part 5 ] [ Part 6 ] [ Part 7 ] [ Part 8 ] [ Part 9 ] [ Annexes ]
