The Role of Partisan Politics in Lithuanian Higher Education Policies:How does left-right divide of Lithuanian political parties matter for their higher education preferences and policy output?

Abstract: Lithuania like other Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries has undergone major changes from the communist socio-economic order to the system based on democratic capitalism. This shift towards market economy and the collapse of communist ideology were also reflected in higher education (HE) reforms. Since political parties are the main actors in modern democracies, partisan politics could influence HE policy changes. This paper aims to examine the HE policy development in Lithuania, and analyse whether the process was shaped by ideological preferences of political parties. Theoretical expectations for partisan preferences of left and right-wing political parties are constructed using the partisan theory. In order to verify these conceptual expectations, the study employs the qualitative method by using semi-structured elite interviews with politicians from both left and right-wing political parties who initiated higher education policies. The expected preferences are then compared to HE policy goals and policy outputs. Results show that parties differ in their HE preferences along the redistributive policy dimension, however, this was not reflected in the policy output from left parties. This could be explained by institutional constraints that influence the HE policy implementation process.