MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
O R D E R No. V-1487
ON THE AMMENDMENT OF ORDER
NO. ISAK-1652 „ON THE APPROVAL OF THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCEDURE
FOR THE EXTERNAL EVALUATION AND ACCREDITATION OF STUDY PROGRAMS“
OF JULY 24, 2009 OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
July 29, 2011
Vilnius
I hereby a m e n d Order No. ISAK-1652 „On the approval of the Description of the Procedure
for the External Evaluation and Accreditation of Study Programs” issued by the Minister of Education
and Science of the Republic of Lithuania on July 24, 2009 (Official Gazette, 2009, No. 96-4083,
No. 134-5862, No. 152-6860; 2010, No. 119-6084; 2011 No. 16-782 ) and present it in the new
revision:
“ORDER
OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF
LITHUANIA
ON THE APPROVAL OF THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCEDURE FOR THE
EXTERNAL EVALUATION AND ACCREDITATION OF THE STUDY PROGRAMS
Following paragraphs 1 and 3 of article 43 of the Law on Science and Studies of the Republic of
Lithuania (Official Gazette, 2009, No. 54-2140):
1. I a p p r o v e the Description of the Procedure for the External Evaluation and Accreditation of
Study Programs.
2. I a u t h o r i z e the Centre for Quality Evaluation in Higher Education to accredit study
programs following the procedure laid down in the Description of the Procedure for the External
Evaluation and Accreditation of Study Programs approved by paragraph 1 of the present Order.“
MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
GINTARAS STEPONAVIČIUS
__________________
APPROVED
by the July 24, 2009 Order No. ISAK-1652 of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic
of Lithuania (Revision of the July 29, 2011 Order No. V-1487 of the Minister of Education and Science
of the Republic of Lithuania)
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCEDURE FOR THE EXTERNAL EVALUATION AND
ACCREDITATION OF STUDY PROGRAMMES
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The Description of the Procedure for the External Evaluation and Accreditation of
Study Programmes (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Description‘) shall govern the external
evaluation aims and implementation principles, accreditation objectives and execution
procedure of the study programmes implemented and intended to be implemented by
institutions of higher education founded in the Republic of Lithuania and authorised to
implement programmes of study and activities related thereto, as well as by branches of
foreign institutions of higher education founded in the Republic of Lithuania and authorised
to implement programmes of study and activities related thereto (hereinafter referred to as
‘branches‘).
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 10 January, 2013, No. V-12.
2. This description has been prepared in accordance with the Law on Science and Studies of the
Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette, 2009, No. 54-2140) and European Standards and Guidelines
for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.
3. For the purposes of this Description:
External evaluation of a study programme shall mean an analysis of the quality of a study
programme and its provision in the national and international context and recommendations for its
improvement.
Accreditation of the study programme shall mean a procedure whereby an authorised institution
grants recognition that the study programme meets set requirements.
4. The purposes of the external evaluation of the study programme:
4.1. to create preconditions for the improvement of the study programme and to create a culture of
the study programme quality assurance;
4.2. to ascertain how the quality of the study programme implementation meets the requirements
of the legal acts, provisions and commitments of the European Higher Education Area undertaken by
the higher education institution or its branch.
5. The purpose of the accreditation of the study programme shall be to ascertain whether the study
programme meets the relevant legal requirements.
6. The external evaluation of the study programmes in higher education institutions shall be
conducted by the Centre for Quality Evaluation in Higher Education (hereinafter referred to as ‘the
Centre’) or another agency for higher education quality evaluation included in the European
Register of Agencies for Quality Evaluation in Higher Education (hereinafter referred to as ‘the
Agency‘).
7. Upon approbation by the Board of the Centre and subject the agreement with the
Ministry of Education and Science, the Centre shall prepare, approve and publish the
methodology for the preparation of the study programme self-evaluation, as well as the
description of external evaluation criteria, the selection of evaluation experts and evaluation
procedures, and shall organise and carry out monitoring of the execution of recommendations
made to institutions of higher education regarding improvement of the programmes of study
they implement. In accordance with the contract signed with the institution of higher
education, the Agency shall perform external evaluation in line with external evaluation
criteria and procedures established and published by the Agency, and shall present evaluation
conclusions and their summary as specified Appendix 1 and 2 to the Description.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
II. ACCREDIDATION OF STUDY PROGRAMMES. GENERAL PROVISIONS
8. Only accredited study programmes shall be implemented. Study programmes must be accredited at
least once in 6 years. In case a shorter accreditation period is applicable to a study programme according to
the Description, such a study programme shall be subject to accreditation by the end of that period.
9. Study programmes intended to be implemented shall be accredited for a period which is
calculated by adding one study year to the length of the study programme in years. The
period of accreditation for study programmes intended to be implemented calculated in this
way cannot be longer than 6 study years. Study programmes already being implemented shall
be accredited for 6 or 3 study years. A study programme that is already being implemented
cannot be accredited for 3 study years more than two times in a row.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
10. The decision on the accreditation of study programmes shall be taken by the accreditation
institution authorised by the Ministry of Education and Science (hereinafter referred to as ‘the
authorised accreditation body’). It shall take one of the decisions defined in paragraphs 21 and 27 of
the Description.
11. The authorised accreditation body must reasonably motivate the decisions indicated in
Paragraphs 21.3, 27.1, 27.2 and 27.3 of the Description based on the conclusions of the external
evaluation of study programmes and after the evaluation of the compliance of the programme to the
requirements approved by the Ministry of Education and Science for study programmes.
12. Study programmes intended to be implemented shall be considered accredited as of
the date requested for accreditation to begin by the institution of higher education in the
application for accreditation of the study programme. Study programmes already being
implemented shall be considered accredited from the date that the decision of the Authorised
Accreditation Body to accredit the study programme comes into force.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
13. After taking a decision on accreditation or non-accreditation of a study programme, the
authorised accreditation body shall send the data of the study programme to the Register of Studies,
Training Programmes and Qualifications within 3 working days of the decision date in the manner
laid down in the description of the procedure for registering the subjects of studies, training
programmes and qualifications approved by Order No. 1913 of 29 October 2010 of the Minister of
Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette, 2010, No. 129-6613).
14. If the decision is taken not to accredit a current study programme, the Ministry of Education
and Science shall initiate deregistration of the programme.
15. If there are students who have not completed studies under the deregistered study
programme, the higher education institution shall be obliged within two months from the
receipt of the decision on non-accreditation of the programme to carry out the analysis of
opportunities for the students to finish the studies (taking into account requests of the
students, available financial possibilities to compensate losses incurred by the students and
other possibilities of the higher education institution) and based on it to provide to the
Ministry of Education and Science generalised proposals approved by the higher education
institution senate (academic board) or by a respective non-state higher education institution
management body concerning possibilities of further studies of those students and to inform
of the number of students studying under the deregistered programme. The Ministry of
Education and Science shall inform the authorised accreditation body of the intended date of
deregistering a study programme. Based on the information received, the authorised
accreditation body shall extend the period of the accreditation of the study programme.
16. The authorised accreditation body shall publish all its decisions publicly and it shall
directly communicate them to the subjects concerned.
III. ACCREDITATION OF THE STUDY PROGRAMME INTENDED TO BE
IMPLEMENTED
17. Study programmes intended to be implemented shall be accredited upon evaluation of
whether all documents specified in Article 19 of the Description have been submitted and
upon ascertaining that they have been duly prepared, with the exception of cases foreseen in
Article 18 of the Description. The Authorised Accreditation Body shall make a decision
regarding the accreditation of a study programme intended to be implemented during the
evaluation, having established that:
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
17.1. the volume of the study programme in credits meets legal requirements (if the programme is
implemented in full-time or part-time forms, the volume of the study programme, modules and
individual subjects shall be the same in both forms);
17.2. the qualification to be awarded matches the list of Qualification Degrees approved by
Resolution No. 1749 of December 23, 2009 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (Official
Gazette, 2009, No. 158-7135);
17.3. the study field, study area and group of study fields (if any) to which a study programme has
been attributed matches the list of study areas and fields according to which studies take place at
higher education institutions approved by Resolution No. 1749 of December 23, 2009 of the
Government of the Republic of Lithuania and according to the list of branches making the group of
study fields approved by Order No. V-222 of 19 February 2010 of the Minister of Education and
Science of the Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette, 2010, No. 22-1054).
18. A study programme intended to be implemented shall be accredited upon evaluation
thereof in accordance with the stages foreseen in Paragraph 29 of the Description in the
following cases:
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
18.1. if the intended study programme is presented by a newly established higher education
institution which has not been accredited based on the conclusions of its external activity evaluation;
18.2.if the intended study programme is presented by a higher education institution whose activity
during the last external evaluation was evaluated negatively;
18.3. if, within 3 last years, a current study programme, which was negatively evaluated and not
accredited or not presented for an external evaluation, is of the same field and cycle as the intended study
programme presented by that higher education institution, except the cases where the study programme,
which is updated under the projects funded from the funds of the European Union structural funds, was not
presented for the evaluation;
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 8 February, 2012, No. V-233.
18.4. if a higher education institution does not implement studies of such group of fields as the
intended study programme which is being presented;
18.5. if an institution of higher education founded in the Republic of Lithuania intends to
implement a study programme at a subdivision founded in a foreign state.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 10 January, 2013, No. V-12.
19. A higher education institution intending to implement a new study programme shall submit to
the authorised accreditation body:
19.1. an accreditation application including the desirable start date of the accreditation period;
19.2. a description of the intended study programme drafted according to the procedure approved
by the authorised accreditation body and agreed upon with the Ministry of Education and Science;
19.3. a declaration by the senate of the higher education institution (academic board) or by a
respective management body of the non-state higher education institution concerning compliance of
the intended study programme to the requirements due under the form provided in Annex 3 to the
Description.
19.4. when a qualification is presented, the approval of the institution, which authorised to present the
qualification, for the study programme intended to be implemented.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 8 February, 2012, No. V-233.
19.5. if the study programme intended to be implemented is a joint programme - a joint
study programme implementation contract signed by all of the institution of higher learning
partners.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
20. Upon receiving the documents specified in Paragraph 19 of the Description, the
Authorised Accreditation Body must make one of the decisions indicated in Paragraph 21 of
the Description within 20 working days.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
20¹ Within 5 working days of receipt of the documents specified in Article 19 of the
Description, the Authorised Accreditation Body shall determine if all of the documents
specified in Article 19 of the Description have been submitted, and (or) if the submitted
documents have been duly registered, and (or) if the study programme intended to be
implemented meets the requirements set forth in Articles 17.1-17.3 of the Description. If not
all of the documents were submitted, and (or) the documents were submitted with
shortcomings, the period for adoption of a decision indicated in Article 21 of the Description
shall be suspended until the aforementioned shortcomings are amended. The Authorised
Accreditation Body shall notify the institution of higher education of the shortcomings that
were identified and of the suspension of the process.The institution of higher education may
amend the identified shortcomings no later than within 15 working days of receipt of said
information.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
21. The authorised accreditation body shall take one of the decisions on the intended study
programme:
21.1. to accredit the study programme for the period specified in Article 9 of the
Description;
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
21.2. to suspend the procedure of application for the consideration of the accreditation if a higher
education institution, within 15 working days and in the manner laid down in paragraph 20 of the
Description, failed to eliminate irregularities identified by the authorised accreditation body or has
refused the application that has been filed;
21.3. not to accredit the study programme if, after the external evaluation of the intended study
programme, it was evaluated negatively.
22. The Ministry of Education and Science may initiate external evaluation of a study
programme accredited as a programme intended to be implemented prior to the expiration of
the accreditation period of said study programme in the event that there is information about
incompliance of the study programme being implemented with the declaration specified in
Paragraph 19.3 of the Description.
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
IV. ACCREDITATION OF STUDY PROGRAMMES WHICH ARE CURRENTLY
IMPLEMENTED
23. The authorised accreditation body shall take a decision on the accreditation of a currently
implemented study programme on the basis of the judgement of its external evaluation.
24. At least two months before the end of the programme's accreditation period, a
higher education institution shall submit to the authorised accreditation body the following:
24.1. an application for accreditation of the study programme;
Amendments:
Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania,
Order 7 December, 2012, No. V-1682.
24.2. the external evaluation report issued no more than one year earlier.
25. When a study programme is to be terminated, i. e. new students will not be admitted, and the
accreditation period ends before the last student class completes studies according to the programme,
the accreditation period may be extended without an external evaluation of the study programme, but
not longer than for 2 study years. The accreditation period may be extended without an external
evaluation of the study programme one time and for the maximum period of 3 study years also in case
the study programme is not be implemented at the time of the planned evaluation, i. e. no students are
(will be) studying in the programme.
26. Within 20 days of the receipt of the documents referred to in Paragraph 24, the authorised
accreditation body shall take a decision on the accreditation of the programme. If the external
evaluation is to be conducted by the authorised accreditation body, the application referred to in
paragraph 24.1 may be submitted together with the application for the external evaluation. In such a
case, a higher education institution shall not be obliged to submit the documents referred to in
paragraph 24.2.
27. The authorised accreditation body shall take one of the following motivated decisions on the
currently implemented study programmes:
27.1. to accredit the study programme for 6 study years if the evaluation score in the external
evaluation report is no less than 18 and not a single area has been evaluated as ‘negative’ or
‘satisfactory’ (in accordance with the evaluation areas defined in Annex 1 to the Description and the
grading scale presented in Annex 2 to the Description) and the study programme is in compliance
with the requirements for study programmes approved by the Ministry of Education and Science;
27.2. to accredit the study programme for 3 years if the evaluation score in the external evaluation
report is no less than 12 and not a single area has been evaluated as ‘negative’ (in accordance with the
evaluation areas defined in Annex 1 and Annex 2 to the Description and the grading scale presented in
those annexes) and the study programme is in compliance with the requirements for study
programmes approved by the Ministry of Education and Science;
27.3. not to accredit the study programme if the evaluation score in the external evaluation report
is less than 12 or at least one area has been evaluated as ‘negative’ (in accordance with the evaluation
areas and the grading scale defined in Annexes 1 and 2 to the Description) or the study programme is
not in compliance with the requirements for study programmes approved by the Ministry of Education
and Science.
V. EXTERNAL EVALUATION OF STUDY PROGRAMMES
28. A higher education institution or branch shall apply to the Agency for external evaluation
according to the procedures set by the Agency concerning the current accredited study programme
intended to be implemented in cases referred to in paragraph 18 to the Description and it shall apply
to the Centre according to the procedures set by the Centre not later than six month remaining to the
end of the study programme‘s accreditation procedure.
29. External evaluation of the study programme shall be performed in the following stages:
29.1. self-evaluation performed by a higher education institution implementing or intending to
implement a study programme;
29.2. visit of the expert team at the higher education institution implementing or intending to
implement a study programme;
29.3. production and publication of the external evaluation report;
29.4. follow-up activities to evaluate the measures taken by a higher education institution
according to the external evaluation recommendations.
30. A higher education institution shall create conditions for the external evaluation of the study
programmes:
30.1. it shall receive the experts appointed by the Centre or the Agency and organise their
meetings with target groups;
30.2. if necessary, it shall provide additional information and documents.
31. The Centre or the Agency shall take the responsibility for the conclusions of the external
evaluation of the study programme.
32. A study programme shall be evaluated positively if it meets the requirements of paragraph
27.2 of the Description except the programmes implemented in the Republic of Lithuania by the
branches. Study programmes of the branches shall be evaluated positively if the evaluation score in
the external evaluation report of the Centre and of the Agency is no less than 12 and not a single area
has been evaluated as ‘negative’ (in accordance with the evaluation areas defined in Annex 1 and
Annex 2 to the Description and the grading scale).
33. A study programme shall be evaluated negatively if the evaluation score in the external
evaluation report is less than 12 and (or) at least one area has been evaluated as ‘negative’ (in
accordance with the evaluation areas and the grading scale defined in Annexes 1 and 2 to the
Description).
34. If the study programme of the branch has been evaluated by the Agency, the branch, after
receiving evaluation conclusions, shall submit to the Centre and to the Ministry of Education and
Science the legally approved copy of those conclusions. If the study programme of the branch has
been evaluated by the Centre, it shall submit the conclusions of the evaluation to the branch and the
copy of the evaluation conclusions – to the Ministry of Education and Science.
35. Within 10 days of the receipt of the evaluation results from the Centre or the Agency, a higher
education institution or the branch shall make the outcome of the external evaluation of the study
programme publicly available by posting it on its website or by other means (to disseminate a
conclusion of the evaluation or its summary with recommendations) and the decision taken by the
authorised accreditation body on the accreditation of the study programme.
__________________
Annex 1 to the Description of the Procedure for the External Evaluation and Accreditation of
Study Programmes
EVALUATION OF THE STUDY PROGRAMME
No.
Evaluation area
1
Aims of the programme and intended learning outcomes
2
Curriculum design
3
Teaching staff
4
Facilities and learning resources
Evaluation
of the area
5
Study process and students’ performance assessment (student selection, performance
assessment, support)
6
Management of the programme (administration of the programme, internal quality
assurance)
Total:
Maximum
score: 24
EVALUATION SCALE
Level/score
Evaluation
1
Description
Unsatisfactoril
There are essential irregularities to be eliminated
2
Satisfactorily
Satisfies minimal requirements, improvement is needed
3
Good
Systematically developed area, has original features
4
Very good
The area is exceptionally good
y
__________________
Annex 3 to the Description of the Procedure for the External Evaluation and Accreditation of
Study Programmes
(Logo (sign) of the higher education institution)
_______________________________________________
(Name of the higher education institution)
DECLARATION
ON THE COMPLIANCE OF THE STUDY PROGRAMME INTENDED TO BE
IMPLEMENTED TO THE GENERAL AND SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE STUDY
PROGRAMMES
___________________________
(Date and number of registration)
___________________
(Place of conclusion)
Following paragraph 1 of Article 42 of the Law on Science and Studies of the Republic of
Lithuania (Official Gazette, 2009, No. 54-2140), subparagraph 4 of paragraph 2 of Article 7,
subparagraphs 1 and 3 of paragraph 2 of Article 42, subparagraphs 1 and 3 of paragraph 3 of Article
42, paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 42, provisions of chapters II and III of the Description of the
Procedure for the External Evaluation and Accreditation of Study Programmes and the description of the
study programme intended to be implemented, the senate, academic board or a respective management
body of the non-state higher education institution shall approve that the study programme intended to
be implemented
Name of the study programme
Study field (group of study fields)
Study cycle
Awarded qualification
complies with the general and special (if any) requirements for the study programmes:
1. Aims of the programme and learning outcomes
1.1. Study aims have been clearly formulated and associated to the intended learning outcomes;
1.2. If the presented qualification is subject to the requirements provided for in the legal acts of
the Republic of Lithuania and (or) in international legal acts, the study aims shall meet the set
requirements.
2. Curriculum design
2.1. The volume of the programme meets legal requirements;
2.2. The volume of the modules meets legal requirements;
2.3. Outcomes of the studied subjects are associated to the outcomes of the study programme;
2.4. The curriculum of the studied subjects allows achieving intended learning outcomes;
2.5. Study methods are appropriate to achieve intended learning outcomes;
2.6. The volume of the study programme is sufficient to achieve intended outcomes of the study
programme;
2.7. If the programme is implemented in the full-time and part-time forms, the volume of the study
programme, modules and individual subjects is the same for both forms;
2.8. The number of subjects in the programme studied during one semester does not exceed the
number specified in the legal acts;
2.9. The structure of the study programme meets legal requirements;
2.10. Studies of each subject or module are completed with the examination or evaluation of the
independent work (project) of the student;
2.11. Aims of the programme and intended learning outcomes match the type and cycle of studies
and the qualification level established in the Lithuanian Qualifications Framework (according to the
complexity, independence and change of the activity).
3. Teaching staff
3.1. Composition of the pedagogic and academic staff meets legal requirements;
3.2. Qualification of the pedagogic and academic staff is sufficient to achieve the aims of the study
programme.
4. Facilities and learning resources
4.1. Facilities and learning resources are sufficient to achieve the aims of the study programme.
5. Intended study process
5.1. Requirements for the entrants are reasonable;
5.2. Evaluation system is associated to learning outcomes.
6. Management of the quality of the programme
6.1. Internal quality control procedure is in place;
6.2. Implementation of the programme will be subject to the internal quality assurance system.
(Notes and comments)
(Position)
(Signature)
A. V.
__________________
(Name and surname)