AREAS OF THE MODERNIZATION OF THE LITHUANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM: A CASE FOR UKRAINE

The article presents the experience of the Republic of Lithuania in moderni-zing higher education. The method of document analysis was used, in particular, data from the European statistics, national statistics departments, and the State statistics service of Ukraine. The application of the method of generalization and comparison made it possible to compare the transformations of higher education systems in Lithuania and Ukraine.A number of problems typical for both countries that led to the introduction of a set of measures to improve the quality of educational services were found. They are the following: insufficient compliance with the requirements of employers, bureaucratization, mainly theoretical training, low competitiveness of graduates of higher education institutions in the labor market, slow introduction of modern information and communication technologies, outflow of young people to study in other countries of the European Union, and insufficient funding.The correlation between the introduction of effective mechanisms for monito-ring higher education and the growth of the quality of educational services is demonstrated using the example of the Republic of Lithuania. It was found that the combination of two levels of monitoring – internal self–assessment and external expert quality assessment – gives the best result.The article analyzes the dynamics of total expenses for training of one student in the context of funding sources, which indicates the predominance of state funding in the higher education sector in Lithuania. The criteria used to determine the amount of funding for Lithuanian higher education institutions are given, in particu-lar: the effectiveness of their research activities, the number of students, and the success of implementing the University's strategic development plans.The directions of funding sources diversification for universities are defined, namely: promotion of cooperation between business entities and the scientific sphere in the areas of commercialization of research results and protection of intellectual property rights; attraction of funds from foreign sources; activation of cooperation between higher education institutions and business entities; creation of special centers for the commercialization of scientific research at universities. The key principles for implementing these measures are consistency, complexity, sequence and coherence of the elements of the four-link spiral Quadruple Helix (education – government – business – the public)