Development of Leadership Competencies During Studies at an Institution of Higher Education: Students' Opinion

In order for more professionals to take the role of leaders, the systematic attitude to this question is necessary and one of the aspects is that it is needed to begin preparing students for the leadership at a higher school. Although there are many facts about the importance of developing of leadership competences at higher schools, there is a lack of research on the subject of students' opinion about leadership development in Lithuania, as well as in other countries. That is why the research considering this issue is relevant practically and quite new scientifically. The aim of this study is to reveal students' opinion about developing leadership competences during the studies at an institution of higher education. For this purpose, in the year 2015 and 2016 the research involving 857 last year students from different Lithuanian higher education institutions was fulfilled. The research has shown that the demand of students to develop leadership competences is significantly high and it is realized only partially. The research also confirmed the idea that the development of the leadership competencies could not be based on only one subject, but the integrated strategy needs to be applied. Based on the findings, some recommendations for higher education institutions were formulated as well.