University culture as a measure of academic change

SUMMARY Vitalija Mockutė University Culture as a Measure of Academic Change Lithuanian system of higher education these days is actively discussed in various sections - both management and the quality of studies, study programs and the like. So it is clear that higher education system needs a change. In order to reform the system some minor elements has to be changed, starting with a variety of features, one of which is the organisation (University) culture. In this context, the working hypothesis was formed - the University culture may become a factor for academic changes. This includes the relevance of the work. In order to prove or disprove the working hypothesis, the study raised a goal to reveal the University culture as a factor in academic developments. The chosen object of this research was the dimension of the University culture as a factor of change. Objectives of the research: 1. To discuss the concept of the University culture. 2. To disclose the culture of university as a factor of academic changes; 3. To explore the culture of University as a factor of change in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre; 4. To provide the guidelines of using the culture of University as an agent of cultural change. The research has been carried out by using analysis of the scientific literature and educational documents, statistical and qualitative research methods for the analysis of the data of the survey. The analysis of scientific literature revealed that the culture of University may be constructed on the basis of investigation of the matrix "University culture as a factor of change", which vertical axis comprises cultural features of organisation distinguished by S. P. Robbins (2006), while the horizontal axis provides the properties of higher education. The criteria on the matrix axes intersection points reveal a possible impact of the culture of University for the academic changes. The theoretical significance of this work lies in a fact, that it provides a methodology developed for the exploration of University culture as a factor for academic change. The methodology may be adapted in a specific higher education institution and used as an instrument to improve the academic activities in University. The methodology was used to investigate the culture of the Faculty of Piano and Musicology of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. It represents the practical significance of this work. The methodology developed on the basis of "the action system principle - changes in one of the structural elements of the system affects other structural elements of it” (Targamadze V., 2006, p. 8). Expertise and a quantitative survey has also been held in the course of research, which included respectively 10 (expert interview) and 103 (quantitative survey) respondents from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. This research aimed to determine the significance of the culture of the organisation for the University and particularly for the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Opinion of respondents confirmed, that the culture of University is able to become an agent of change, particularly strengthening weakly expressed cultural characteristics of the University. For the Universities, which are willing to change expression of the features of higher education by changing the culture, it is necessary to examine the current situation, to focus vision, mission and strategy to current and desired results, and to strengthen or weaken the expression of cultural features of the organisation through active management