Research Programme for 2016-2020 Improving Life
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Updates approved by the Senate of Mykolas Romeris University on 19 April 2018 Resolution No 1SN-31 RESEARCH PROGRAMME FOR 2016-2020 IMPROVING LIFE QUALITY AND ENHANCING EMPLOYMENT POSSIBILITIES Vilnius, 2018 1 CONTENTS I. ANALYTICAL REVIEW.......................................................................................................... 3 II. AIM, RESEARCH TOPICS, OBJECTIVES, MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION, EXPECTED QUALITATIVE RESULTS....................................................................................32 III. EXPECTED QUANTITATIVE RESULTS...........................................................................53 IV. POTENTIAL COOPERATION WITH OTHER INSTITUTIONS....................................58 2 RESEARCH PROGRAMME IS IMPLEMENTED BY: Faculty of Economics and Business Management Institute of Education Science and Social Work Institute of Psychology Life Quality Laboratory Gender Research Laboratory Psychological Well-being Laboratory Environmental Psychology Research Cente Sociological Research Laboratory Life-long Learning Laboratory RESEARCH PROGRAMME WAS PREPARED AND UPDATED 2018 IN ACCORDANCE WITH: The Europe 2020 Strategy The European Commission Justice Programme The EU Programme Europe for Citizens 2016-2020 The EU Programme Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme 2014-2020 Lithuania’s Progress Strategy Lithuania 2030 Programme of the 17th Government National Progress Programme for Lithuania for the Period 2014–2020 National Programme for the Development of Studies, Scientific Research and Experimental (Social and Cultural) Development for 2013–2020 Provisions for the Lithuanian Science and Innovation Policy Change, 2016 Resolution adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania on the Plan of Optimizing the Network of State Universities, 2017 The European Commission Renewed EU Agenda for Higher Education, 2017 The European Commission New Skills Agenda for Europe, 2016 The European Commission Assessment of Progress on Structural Reforms, 2017 OECD Reviews of National Policies of Education – Education in Lithuania, 2017 OECD Review of Education 2017, OECD indicators OECD Economic Survey of Lithuania, 2016 UN Sustainable Development Goals. I. ANALYTICAL REVIEW 1. The purpose of the research programme Improving Life Quality and Enhancing Employment Possibilities to carry out complex research related to the improvement life quality and enhancement of employment possibilities. 3 Universal monetary methods based on the priorities of monetary and fiscal policy has recently increased disappointment in Europe and the world. The mainstream economic paradigm is also changing: the radical liberal consensus Washington doctrine criticised by the experts of global economy and the Nobel Prize laureates is gradually pushed out by modern attitude putting a human at the centre of economic processes. Different from monetary attitude and technocratic practice (which is so popular and deep-rooted in Lithuania), when the market economy quasi circumvents an individual, in the leading countries of the European Union, e.g. Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Scandinavian countries and Switzerland, economic reforms are more orientated towards the objectives which all society is striving to achieve. These objectives are vital for the majority of the population, i.e. the interests of mass social stratification – complete employment and high quality of life. It is believed that only considering the priorities of social objectives it is possible to create powerful grounds for the growth of economy, the modernisation of business, the enhancement of national competitiveness and simultaneously create a stable source of revenue for the state budget. This provision is also confirmed by the world experience. In 2008, by the initiative of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy the Commission of the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress was set up headed by the Nobel Prize laureate, ex-president of the World Bank, Professor of Columbia University Joseph Stiglitz. (Among the members of this Commission were well-known people: economist, Nobel Prize laureate, Professor of Harvard University Amartya Sen and Professor of the Institute of Political Sciences Professor Jean Paul Fitoussi). The conclusion presented in the report of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress1 can be viewed like a challenge to the current system of indicators assessing social-economic development. GND, inflation and the budget deficit are not reflecting the actual economic situation of the country; its real status and the efficiency of national policy are shown by the indicators of social welfare and the quality of life of the population. Therefore, while assessing the social economic status of the country, it is important to transfer the centre of gravity into the indicators of the welfare and the quality of people lives. The most significant conclusion of the authoritative Commission is the recommendation to apply the system of indicators reflecting people’s welfare instead of statistics orientated towards 1 Stiglitz J. E., Sen A., Fitoussi J.-P. Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Paris: Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, 2010, 292 p.: http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/documents/rapport_anglais.pdf 4 profit and finances. This system encompasses the following dimensions: labour and employment, material level of living, health, education, inclusion in government decision-making, social links and participation in the community, living environment as well as physical and economic security. In 2015, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to the British researcher Angus Deaton for the contribution to the analysis of Consumption, Poverty and Welfare. Deaton’s methodological attitude is based on the data of an individual’s experience and household behaviour. According to the researcher, it enables to achieve more significant results than standardised models of macroeconomics. The researcher has come up to the conclusion that while seeking to create efficient consumption policy which would encourage welfare and reduce poverty, first of all it is necessary to perceive the principles of consumption on the level of an individual as well as on the level of wealthy and poor households. The research of the problems of individual consumption made the researcher analyse closely related welfare and health issues. The perception of separate mechanisms of the choice of consumers’ consumption facilitates the development of economic policy encouraging the welfare of society and the decrease of poverty. The ideas of the enhancement of welfare are closely related to the principal provisions of the strategy of the European Union Europe 2020 the meaning of which comes to the fact that the country’s economic success can be achieved and implemented only having a strong social foundation. Social and economic cohesion is an important priority of the EU economic enlargement dedicated to the reduction of social and economic differences among social groups, EU regions and member states. In accordance with the programme Horizon 2020, seeking to induce the growth of economy and establish workplaces, the European Commission will invest 80 billion EUR in scientific research and innovations. The financing will be given for three main objectives: to strengthen the position of the EU as the leader in science, to insure the leadership in industrial innovation, to invest in main technologies, to increase the possibilities of financing and support of small and medium-sized enterprises and to resolve actual and important problems in six main spheres: health, demographic changes and welfare; food security and the development of organic agriculture; ensuring safe, ecological and efficient energy; smart, environmentally friendly and integrated transport; climate change; 5 inclusive, innovative and secure society. The EU membership induces Lithuania to essentially, not formally, perceive the quality of life as the key indicator of the efficiency of economic policy in the development of the country; it is confirmed by significant strategic documents adopted in Lithuania (National Progress Strategy 2030, etc.). The sixteenth Government of the Republic of Lithuania in its 2012-2016 programme emphasizes that its main objective is to create welfare state so that the people of Lithuania would feel dignified, safe and happy. Lithuanian researchers R. Lazutka, B. Gruževskis, V. Kanopienė, A Matulionis, L. Dromantienė, A. Bitinas, J. Aidukaitė, A. Šileika and others have significantly contributed to the research on social development while not much attention was given to life quality of the population, its measurement and evaluation. The growth of macroeconomic indicators frequently does not turn into welfare of society and does not improve the quality of life of the majority of the population – the middle class and separate social groups. Therefore, while evaluating the economic status of the country, it is suggested to apply the system of indicators reflecting the quality of the population instead of the statistics orientated towards the achievements of macro-economy. In this context, Lithuania lacks systematically performed research of the quality of life, which comprehensively, not fragmentally, reflects the trends and problems of the development of the quality of life of the population. 2. Having implemented this programme, first,