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Lithuania raises bar for higher education

Xinhua, December 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite signed amendments on Monday to the law on science and study aimed at increasing the country's competitiveness.

The changes involve increasing the university acceptance requirements for students. Now students will be required to pass at least one national-level exam in order to be accepted into a college or university.

"It's necessary to ensure that the bar for the quality of science and studies is raised high and responds to the needs of the country and the market," said the president's office in a press release.

The current enrolment criteria at the country's universities allows for students with low marks to enter, thus "discrediting higher education and impeding the country's economic competitiveness," according to the statement.

Grybauskaite, who had initiated the amendments that were later approved by the Seimas, the country's parliament, believes the changes will increase the quality of higher education, stimulate innovation, and adjust programs to meet the needs of the country's labor market.

The new legislation requires universities and colleges to prepare study programs in accordance with the country's needs.

According to the president's office, there are currently almost 1,800 study programs in Lithuania with around 150,000 students at universities. Forty-six percent of students are funded by the state.

"Almost half of them have a job that doesn't require the skills they've acquired at university," said the office.

Lithuania is facing a shortage of students with programming and engineering skills, while those with degrees in social sciences and humanities face the risk of becoming unemployed upon graduation.

According to MOSTA, Lithuania's research and higher education monitoring and analysis center, there are 14.5 universities and colleges per million residents in Lithuania, a small Baltic country with a population of less than three million people. The European average is 4.6 universities per million residents. Endit