Minister wants universities in Lithuania to ‘shrink smartly’

As demographic shifts prompt significant decline in undergraduate admissions, Lithuania’s education minister has said the country’s university system must “shrink smartly”.

Speaking to Times Higher Education, Gintautas Jakštas said Lithuania’s falling birth rate, which has seen the number of school-leavers halve in the past 10 years, was “quite a challenge” for higher education institutions.

“Ten years ago, students were competing to get admitted to universities. Now sometimes, universities are competing to attract students,” Mr Jakštas said.

Undergraduate admissions to public universities have fallen by 30 per cent in the past decade, while public colleges, or non-university higher education institutions, have faced a steeper 38 per cent decline.

Merging some universities and colleges could help to alleviate recruitment struggles while enabling the institutions to become “centres of excellence in both studies and research”, Mr Jakštas said.

Despite declining enrolments, almost 60 per cent of Lithuanian 25- to 34-year-olds have attained a tertiary-level qualification, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In response, admissions requirements will become stricter. “This summer, all potential students that wish to start their studies in higher education institutions will need to have successfully passed three secondary exams,” Mr Jakštas explained. “Up until now, this criterion has been applied to those who want to get state funding, but if they [paid] for their studies, they only [had] to pass one exam.”

Universities must also adhere to stricter quality requirements, with funding attached. “From this year, 5 per cent of study funding will be allocated according to quality criteria including study performance, internationality and accessibility, student recruitment, graduate careers and so on,” the minister said. “Next year, it will be 10 per cent, and, from 2026, 20 per cent of study funding will be based on quality criteria.”

Lithuania also hopes to attract more international students and researchers, the minister said. “We are a small country. If we don’t attract anyone from abroad, we’ll be stuck,” he said.

In particular, the country hopes to retain students who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022, by making all graduates from Lithuanian secondary schools, regardless of their citizenship, eligible for state funding to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

A similar approach applies to prospective PhD students. “State-funded places are limited, but no matter what country you’re from, you’re in the same position to compete for state funding,” Mr Jakštas said. The majority of research funding schemes now mandate that projects include researchers from overseas, he added.

To limit the loss of researchers to the more lucrative business sector, Mr Jakštas said researcher and lecturer salaries would rise by 30 per cent in 2024, with the goal that they will become equivalent to 150 per cent of the Lithuanian average salary.

Lithuania’s Agreement on National Education Policy, to which all governmental parties have committed, includes a stipulation that state funding for research and development will reach 0.75 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product by the end of 2024, and 1 per cent by the end of 2030.

But the upcoming year of elections in Lithuania – presidential, parliamentary and European – could destabilise this pledge, Mr Jakštas said, with some politicians already indicating that they will not continue to prioritise education if elected.

Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, national defence is the government’s top funding priority, Mr Jakštas said. Still, the minister shared his hope that funding will not be diverted away from higher education. “Our key resource is human capital, and we must invest in it,” he said.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com