Engineering Education Quality Assurance: The Essential Pillar of Higher Education Reform in Lithuania

The purpose of this chapter is to present a review of Lithuanian engineering education and its related evaluation and accreditation systems. Lithuanian engineering education has changed dramatically in recent years: initially in 1991 after Lithuania separated from the Soviet Union, then in 1999 when Lithuania accepted the Bologna process and very recently in 2004 upon Lithuania’s entry into the European Union. This chapter examines the strengths and weaknesses of the current educational system and, in particular, the assessment of engineering education in the hope that it will enable the further integration of Lithuanian engineering education into the European Higher Education Area. With the 2010 deadline for implementation of the Bologna Process approaching Lithuanian higher education, it is attempting to provide responses to the following questions: What current challenges will persist well into the next few years? Where is European higher education heading? What opportunities is Lithuania facing in an increasingly globalised World?