Interest groups‘ participation indexing of the higher education sector in Lithuania

Findings. The obtained results showed that investigated associations are rather democratic organizations according to their internal management and decision making practice. However some of the investigated associations should put more effort in education and training activities of the members. After the analysis of the conducted interviews it is obvious that a sufficient amount of the data is collected. Indicators of the participation maturity have been analyzed and verified. Research limitations/implications: The analysis is based on the data collected from four associations of the higher education sector. However the information about the principles of the inner practice could be more reliable if more representatives of the associations would be interviewed. Practical implications: The participation maturity indicators are tested and could be used for creating and estimating the representation maturity index which might be used by the official bodies of the government selecting reliable associations which might be included in the public policy formation processes. Originality/value: The originality of the paper is that the participation maturity indicators are used for analysis of the associations.