The design of the national qualifications framework (NQF) in Lithuania started in 2006. The NQF was officially approved by the government decree in May 2010. This article explores the influence of the processes of institutional change on the reform of the national system of qualifications in Lithuania through the implementation of the NQF, looking to the relationships between the objective factors of institutional development and the goals of NQF related to the expectations and interests of different stakeholders. The article explains the features of the Soviet legacy and their influence on the institutional change of national system of qualifications in Lithuania; analyses the variety of the change patterns in the different dimensions of institutional change of reform in the national system of qualifications; and outlines the implications of the analysed patterns and dimensions of the institutional change of reform of the national system of qualifications to the implementation of the NQF in Lithuania. (Contains 6 notes.)