Abstract:

The functions and responsibility of law enforcement institutions – border guards and the police – in the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) are to provide security and order on the external borders of the European Union (further: the EU) as well as in the regions close to them. The functions and responsibility mentioned above as well as the major goal – to maintain a protected and secure EU space of freedom, security and the rule of law – impose more demanding requirements as to the quality of professional training of the staff in the respective institutions. The given factors, the task to jointly and in a fully integrated way control the EU external borders as well as the topicality of quality issues in the professional education of today determined the relevance, content and aim of the research.

The viewpoints expressed by all parties concerned (students, graduates, lecturers, administration, employers) based on their practical experience were used as the basis for defining the aim of the paper: to carry out the analysis of consolidated data on the quality aspects of planning, organization and practical process of a professional training obtained from law enforcement bodies and education institutions in the Baltic States involved in the research, thus providing the institutions mentioned above with a scientific basis for identifying the topical problems in the activity of quality assurance systems and prior tendencies in improving the quality of planning, organization and implementation of professional training of the staff.

The theoretical and practical relevance of the research is strengthened by the “Technical and Operational Strategy for European Integrated Border Management” of 2019 which, by setting the task to develop a joint European Border and Coast Guard (further: EBCG) education and training conception and strategy, guides the EU member states towards added values, which include uniform standards for border control and fulfillment of tasks pertaining to the return as well as a high quality, and consequently also strengthened EU external borders.

Keywords:

Border Guard, Police, professional education, study process quality.