Development and Implementation of Integrated Curriculum in Management Studies

Global economic and social challenges in the World require fundamental changes in quality assurance in higher education institutions at the national and international level. Higher education institutions are encouraged to adjust study programs, which would meet the current requirements and needs of the labor market and individuals. Integrated curriculum is one of the measures, which could transform traditional educational paradigm and contribute to higher quality and relevance of learning and teaching. Therefore, this article addresses development and implementation issues of the integrated curriculum with the aim to provide the concept of integrated study program and discuss the opportunities for its application in educational institutions. The theoretical part of the paper gives a brief review of the meaning of the concept of integrated curriculum, the basis for development of such study programs and the connection of such curriculum with requirements of the labor market. Accordingly, the practical part presents the findings of empirical research about the implementation of integrated curricula in Kaunas University of Applied Sciences. The results of the study revealed integrated curriculum meets the students' expectations when the assessment of such programs is ensured constantly.