| Abstract [eng] |
The purpose of this thesis is to explain how rationality and value incentives influence the decision of Lithuanian state universities of applied sciences (UAS) to submit a proposal to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Lithuania (ŠMSM) on the choice of the path of strengthening UAS by (not) participating in the reorganisation of UAS. The main reason for choosing to investigate this phenomenon is that the 18th Government of the Republic of Lithuania, in its programme of activities, has envisaged the renewal of the network of state UAS as one of the measures to achieve this ambition, following an assessment of the potential, national and regional needs, and by empowering the UAS themselves to make proposals for their vision of the future at the initial stage (initiation) of policy change. Therefore, this thesis seeks to address the main issue – while the UAS network is under pressure from external factors due to the deteriorating network situation, UAS and their communities, as rational actors with their own value-driven incentives, are trying to maximise their own benefits, which may not always be aligned with the expectations or priorities for policy change set by policymakers. In order to find answers to the research problem, it was chosen to analyse the expression of rationality and value incentives in different Lithuanian state UAS in the process of making a decision on strengthening their activities (not) by participating in the UAS reorganisation process. This expression was investigated through eight hypotheses that explore the influence of rationality and value incentives on the final choice of UAS, which have different operational statuses. In order to check the hypotheses, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of UAS and policy makers to collect information on how reform is received and responded to in colleges, what UAS strengthening scenarios were discussed within UAS, how the final college choice was made in UAS, etc. The results of the study showed that Lithuanian state UAS have a rich pluralism of rationality and value incentives. It makes impossibility to unambiguously identify the influence of rationality and value incentives on the final decision of the UAS when submitting a proposal to the ŠMSM on the choice of a path to strengthen their performance by (not) participating in the reorganisation of UAS. Also, the study has observed a certain regularity across UAS, which can be defined through the three main characteristics of the conditions under which rationality and value incentives influence the choice: (i) when rationality and value incentives are equally influential in the UAS choice; (ii) when rationality incentives dominate the UAS choice and; (iii) when value incentives dominate the UAS choice. The results showed that rationality and value motives were equally prevalent in most of the UAS when making the final decision (3 out 5 cases). The results of this thesis imply some useful theoretical insights for future research: (1) the selection of the cases and the cases themselves revealed a relatively high degree of fragmentation among the UAS in the study, which made it difficult to extrapolate conclusions about the UAS network, and it is therefore worthwhile to include the entire population of Lithuanian state UAS in the study in order to gain a more fundamental understanding of the patterns of UAS sector activities and decisions; (2) the question of the durability of these value commitment templates over time remains open due to dynamic environment for UAS, which is why it is valuable to develop this research in the future with the first results of policy change already available; (3) although the study did not directly seek to investigate the relationship between rationality and values, it is believed that this analysis would help to provide a better answer to the question of the interaction between rationality and values in UAS. |
