The pandemic period in education brought many challenges to all organizations. The activities of the higher educational institutions are being affected and the situation can last for a longer time. Under these circumstances, it is important to shift to online learning and improve educational processes through all organizational levels. The organizations had to assure appropriate distance or remote learning process by identifying their opportunities, meeting challenges, and identifying the sustainable quality factors for remote or distance learning. This study aimed to map and test the factors that influence online learning success in the pandemic situation in higher education in one of the European Union countries, Lithuania. Factors analyzed and presented in the paper are the quality of institutions and services, infrastructure and system quality, quality of courses and information, and online learning environment. Data were collected through surveys by distributing questionnaires and interviews. Authors are providing the main criteria for successful education based on administrative positions and design makers of the educational organizations. The article summarizes the interviews of 15 respondents from the three Lithuanian higher education institutions and how their informants met changes, opportunities, and identified quality factors addressed to the successful learning and teaching process during a pandemic period.

The article focuses on the relationships of communication and educational processes, creativity aspects in the context of higher education. A creative personality of the teacher determines how smooth and efficient these relationships are. The results of the quantitative research (sample – 124 teachers) conducted at Lithuanian higher education institutions and coprehensively presented in the article reveal the attitude of Lithuanian higher education teachers towards the significance of communication in the educational process. Though higher education teachers have to possess various competences such as personal, communication, social, lifelong learning, methodological, planning, organisational, leadership and assessment ones, the respondents distinguished several most significant to them. The research revealed that teachers see personal and communication competences as the most important ones, which also reveal and substantiate close relationships of communication and educational processes. The relationship is enhanced by a creative personality of the teacher, his or her positive personal qualities and values. Higher education teachers not only perceive the significance of communication and educational competences in the educational process but also express a need for their continuous improvement.

The article analyses the development of creativity concepts. Notions of creativity transformed historically from uncontrolled divine inspiration and non-reflected artistic inspiration to the targeted work resulting in commercially successful creative products. The analysis begins with Plato’s discussion that a poet should be overtaken by divine inspiration, that human beings do not create by themselves, they are dictated to by the Muses. Renaissance, Rationalism and Romanticism are analysed including their reflections in recognised artists of 20th century. Today’s notions of creativity are reviewed including ones important for creative industries and consumer society.

The article discusses consequences of increasing accessibility of education employing virtual learning environments. The main focus is laid on two consequences, i.e. on flourishing of mass-man and elimination of individual attitude. Seeking to ensure accessibility of education to everybody, equal conditions are introduced: technologization of the learning process through virtual learning environments leads to assurance of the level of convenient use, which diverts the attention from the essence, i.e. from the creation of elite culture in personality education. According to Ortega y Gasset, mass culture, information for the masses and environment overwhelm consciousness of an individual, who has lost his/her individuality, and irreversibly take an individual away from his/her interest in the meaning of existence. The article focuses on the technologization of lifelong learning development, its progressive and destructive aspects. Technologization seems to be an integral component of the system of education in the 21st century. It also facilitates teaching/learning, makes it more attractive, accessible, convenient, individualised and efficient, although its efficiency and effectiveness are still questioned (Price, Kirkwood 2014; Englund, Olofsson, Price 2017). What factors encourage development and technologization of lifelong learning? What advantages and disadvantages of using virtual learning environments are distinguished by students and what does this presuppose? Does not this lead to flourishing of mass culture and mass-man education?

The pandemic COVID-19 period in education has brought many challenges to all organizations. The activities of the higher educational institutions are being affected and the situation may last for a long time. Under the current circumstances, it is important to shift to distance learning through online processes and improve educational processes at all organizational levels. Institutions have to ensure successful distance or remote learning process by identifying their opportunities, meeting challenges, and establishing the sustainable quality factors for remote or distance learning. This study aimed at identifying the pandemic-induced qualitative changes in studies that have occurred at the levels of university authorities, lecturers, and students. Universities of Lithuania were taken as a case study. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the focus of analysis is not on the negative effects of the pandemic observed in higher education studies but on finding positive qualitative changes that are also of importance to future studies. Phenomenographic qualitative research strategy was chosen in the research and 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews with experts in university studies were conducted. Seven categories were distinguished during the research representing qualitative changes in studies at three levels—authorities, lecturers, and students. The discussed levels seemed to have a mutual effect on each other. The external motivation of leaders and the support and establishment of work and online study conditions encouraged both external and internal qualitative changes in studies from the perspective of lecturers as well as students.