The compliance of Lithuanian vocational and higher education systems with the needs of uniformed (statutory and military) service

Abstract

Purpose – to examine how should the human resource policies in uniformed services interact with vocational training and higher education policy. Also, it’s important to analyze, whether the vocational training / higher education of prospective officers is sufficient and effective. Uniformed services perform vital functions to the state and society, and they need personnel, which is both highly trained and educated, but also loyal. Design/methodology/approach. There had been used scientific literature deduction (drawing conclusions from the available information), analysis (obtained data analyzed separately), analogy (comparison of data with each other), generalization (the main features complex generalization), induction (from individual elements went to a general conclusion), comparison methods. Theoretical analysis was used in order to see if multiple strategies of higher and vocational education for the needs of uniformed services improve the quality of education, from perspectives of (i) vocational training or higher education institutions and (ii) students and cadets. 12 experts - police ir military officers - were interviewed for the purposes of this study. Finding. In Lithuania, each statutory institution has separate educational institution and provides for their duration and content. There is no institution that coordinates and evaluates the process of qualification improvement of the officers at the state level. Education system between statutory and military officers is fundamentally different. In Lithuania, the police officers pay tuition for higher education themselves. Vocational training in statutory service is too short and not sufficient, the necessary training base is not provided. Research limitations/implications. Only two uniformed services (police and professional army) were investigated in the survey. Only a small percentage of officers were interviewed, whose answers cannot be considered as a whole, deeper and more comprehensive studies are needed. Due to economic situation changes, political decisions and on other external factors, officers' assessments may change. However, the data obtained are useful in view of certain general trends and weaknesses in providing further guidance to the study. Practical implications. It should be emphasized that there is no institution of education in Lithuania, e.g. college, that prepares B level officers (higher non-university education), although they hold a large part of the officers. This shows that more attention is needed to pay for vocational education, the length of vocational training should be extended. Those insights reflects the practical implication of the study. Originality/Value. There is the lack of studies that analyze the quality of vocational training and higher education of the uniformed officers in general. This study shows that requirements (state of health, physical fitness, etc.) between two regimes are similar, but there are radical differences in multiple strategies of higher and vocational education.